SCHNEIDER Electric Philippines Inc. (Sepi) announced the company will support young inventors of an energy harvesting device that takes power from solar, wind and vibration sources.
Sepi Country Director for Human Resources Tess Portillo said the company will help to further develop the business case of the lone team from the Ateneo De Manila University (Admu) that defeated three teams at a competition on green technology.
According to Portillo, the company will help the team called “Ateneo Ohm” in their preparation for the next phase of the competition. We will help them “further sharpen their presentation skills,” she added. “We hope, like our previous representatives in the past editions of [the] ‘Go Green In The City’ competition, Ateneo Ohm will be able to make it to France.”
Device
THE device the group calls “AeoLuminate” is “a step forward in addressing the challenges posed by unpredictable weather conditions to existing standalone renewable technologies, as well as the increasing need for better data on air quality for monitoring and policy-making purposes in the face of increasing greenhouse-gas emissions.”
The proposal for AeoLuminate by Ateneo Ohm members Prince Aldrin Domer and Sheena Fernandez won against the teams from the University of the Philippines-Diliman.
The proposal is for installing a device atop each streetlamp to power the light, collect air-quality data and improve air quality with a three-stage filtration system.
The entire system powers itself and is ideal for off-grid street lighting, according to Domer.
Fernandez added that the system is “very scalable” and can be customized to address any off-grid energy needs.
Domer said their proposal is catered to urban planners and government agencies planning to introduce sustainable practices, particularly to local government units.
Winners
ATENEO Ohm took home a grand prize of P100,000 and the opportunity to represent the Philippines in the next phase, the “Go Green in the City 2016 East Asia” regional semifinals on June 10.
If Domer and Fernandez wins this leg, they will represent the region in the “Go Green in the City” Grand Finals in Paris, France.
Two Philippine teams have made it to France in previous “Go Green in the City” editions.
The most recent ones included John Paul Santos and Christian Santa Romana of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines who won second runner-up in last year’s competition for their electrifilter device. The device generates electricity from dirty water as it gets filtered and cleansed. Rizal Raoul Reyes
In 2013, Lorenzo Payonga and Alyssa Vintola took home the Grand Prize with their Oscillohump, a device that collects energy from vehicles going through speedbumps.
All the previous winners, save for Santa Romana who is set to graduate next year, are currently employed by Sepi.