RACONTEURPH

DLSU-Manila wins Schneider's Go Green in the City PH Finals

Schneider Electric held the Philippine Country Finals of the Go Green in the City 2018 at the Holiday Inn & Suites, Makati on August 14, 2018, granting De La Salle University-Manila back-to-back wins with Team Green Goldies bagging this year’s national competition.

Go Green in the City is an annual global business case challenge hosted by Schneider Electric to empower students to unleash their skills and creativity in creating the next big innovation to promote smart cities and green energy management. This competition enables Filipino students to be more proactive in dealing and addressing global problems, thus providing topics on sustainability and inclusivity, the digital economy, smart supply chain, cybersecurity, and no boundaries or bold ideas for going green. It also grants them knowledge and insights from industry leaders and experts. Schneider Electric also strengthens its bid for women empowerment by having at least one female student in each participating team.

For the first time in the competition’s history here in the Philippines, Go Green in the City has attracted student partners who have come from different schools that have always been strong rivals in the field of sports. Schneider Electric believes that this goes in line with having no boundaries as it strengthens the ideation process of each team while nurturing a collaborative environment between schools.

From over 400 entries nationwide, the Philippine Country Finalists of Go Green in the City 2018 are: Syd Ian Matthew De Ama (Far Eastern University) and Chelsea Kate Lavilla (University of Sto. Tomas) aka Team Foodies; Don Emmanuel Santamaria and Fae Nicole Serrano (De La Salle University-Manila) aka Team Green Goldies; and, Earle Kit Sanchez (MAPUA Institute of Technology) and Kathlyn Mae Yap (De La Salle University) aka Team OffTheGrid.

Judging and evaluating their ideas were Schneider Electric Philippines Country President Alexandre Vermot, Schneider Electric Philippines CFO Douglas Luiz De Camargo, Philippine Energy Efficiency Alliance President and Blue Sky Energy Corporation CEO Alexander Ablaza, Philippine Green Building Initiative Executive Vice President and COO Amado De Jesus, Jr., and ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation, Inc. - Bantay Kalikasan Program Director Jen Santos.

The winners of this year’s Country Finals are Don Emmanuel Santamaria and Fae Nicole Serrano or Team Green Goldies from the De La Salle University-Manila with their e-Hub project. This follows the 2017 Country Finals win of DLSU-Manila students Iliana Benice Tan and Aaron Jules Del Rosario who secured the first runner-up spot in the regional finals for their Glass X project, a design that absorbs the heat being received by building from the sun and converts it into energy for a building’s own cooling system.

Team Green Goldies’s E-Hub project is designed to package all things renewable into one mobile application. The three primary features of the app are to allow users to invest and donate on renewable energy projects, project developers to propose ideas and initiatives and set-up crowdfunding, and an e-store to buy and sell products related to green energy. Other features the app include latest news on renewables, articles and blogs from users, games, and average prices of various sources of electricity. E-Hub is an innovative financing mechanism that grants access to greener energy to address the decline in renewable energy investments and the low level awareness with regards to it.

Alexandre Vermot, Country President, Schneider Electric Philippines said: “Through Go Green in the City competition, we aim to empower the youth by letting them exercise their creativity as they develop green and sustainable ideas. Go Green in the City is their platform to share their concepts and ideas that can help make a Smart Nation out of the Philippines and other countries by embracing digitization, innovation and sustainability. In recent years, the Philippines has consistently ranked in the regional and global competitions. In 2013, we took home the global championship. In 2015, the Philippines grabbed the third prize of the global competition. And for 2014, 2016 and 2017, our local teams have been strong contenders in the regional finals. So for this year, let’s aim to continue this streak and secure a podium finish at the global finals, if not the grand prize. We truly believe that young Filipino talents have what it takes to rise as global leaders of innovation and sustainability.”

The first runner-up of the competition, Team OffTheGrid presented their GG Tap and Power Glass project which served the purpose of maximizing daily water consumption to  generate electricity. Taking home the second runner-up spot was Team Foodies who created a project called The Green Cycle, a mobile application that serves as a two-part solution using logistics and energy generation to address the world’s food waste problem.

Team Green Goldies was awarded PhP 100,000 and will also receive mentorship from Schneider Electric Philippines’ team of experts to prepare for the Asia Pacific Regional Finals where they will be representing the Philippines. They will be competing against the respective country winners of Australia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.