Ateneo students top ‘Go Green’ challenge

MANILA, Philippines - A team from the Ateneo de Manila University topped the recent Go Green in The City East Asia Regional Challenge 2013 at Senayan City, Jakarta, Indonesia. As many as 14 teams representing Indonesia, Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam presented their efficient and innovative energy management projects in front of a judging panel comprised of national and international energy management experts.

After passing a rigorous judging process, the judges announced three winning teams who will join the final round of Go Green in the City International Case Challenge in Paris on June 27-28.

Students Alyssa Tricia Eloise Vintola and Ray Payongapresented the Oscillohump, an alternative energy solution to harvest energy from road humps. It uses the simple concept of electromagnetic induction as its physical foundation. Whenever vehicles pass over the Oscillohump, they press springs which plunge magnets into solenoids that will generate power to charge a battery used to power DC loads such as LED street lamps, traffic lights, or CCTV cameras. Excess energy may be fed to the power grid. This mechanism gives the motorists an opportunity to give back to the environment while at the same time ensuring road safety.

Dong Fang Gao and Duo Jia, both from Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, aim to solve the problem of excessive energy consumption by air-con systems and improve students’ comfort with the Smart Air-con Control System, which divides an area into different zones, with each zone cooled by spot cooling. This system also grants the students the ability to change the temperatures in their zones through applications installed in mobile phones.

Ria Sasmita Utami, Bani Adam, Faisal Haq  Edy Wibowo, all from Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember Surabaya, developed a system to harness solar power to run medical equipment in clinics in remote areas. This project will be adopted by Schneider Electric Indonesia to be implemented as one of its CSR programs.

The three winners will go through a process of mentoring, counseling and training provided by experts from Schneider Electric to support their preparation for the Go Green in the City International Case Challenge in Paris. They will compete with 22 winning teams from all over the world, including Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Turkey and the United States.