University of São Paulo scholars bag international competition on energy efficiency for buildings
A team made up of students from the Polytechnic School (Poli) of USP and the Instituto Superior Técnico, in Portugal, won an international hackathon (programming marathon) in Circularity and Energy Efficiency for Buildings. Called Elk Suggestions, the group comprises Mariana Serrão, Guilherme Francisco, both from the Computer Engineering course; Vinicius Damin, from Mechatronic Engineering; and Murilo Teixeira, from Electrical Engineering; developed a platform that monitors and suggests energy habits for small and medium-sized companies, a project that won first place in the European competition.
Promoted by the French company Schneider Electric, the competition annually awards innovative ideas that have the potential to contribute to a more sustainable and cleaner future. Aligned with the company’s purpose, the platform designed by Elk Suggestions analyzes the energy costs of appliances in different metrics, such as time of use and carbon emissions, and, based on the data collected, proposes ways to improve energy efficiency and reduce costs per means of a more conscious and sustainable use of energy.
“With the use of machine learning and hardware created by us, we proposed an automated and easy-to-use platform that would measure some parameters, understand the consumption pattern and make a series of suggestions aimed at a more conscious use of energy. ”, explains Serrão, highlighting that the making of suggestions through the website was the great differential of the project, with viable and applicable proposals in reality.
The team points out that many of the ideas for the development of the platform were thought of based on knowledge acquired in the Energy, Environment and Sustainability discipline, taught at Poli. They highlight the importance of expanding this knowledge to something that can bring concrete benefits. “Developing an idea that can have a very positive impact on society, that can change the world, greatly encourages us to continue developing [projects] and researching,” says Damin.
Considered the most innovative idea among proposals from teams across Europe, the group received a prize of 5,000 euros, an international trip and the opportunity to do an internship at Schneider Electric .