2nd Annual 2010 Green Energy Challenge Winner Announced!

The winners of the 2nd Annual Green Energy Challenge were announced yesterday at the NECA Student Chapter Summit. First-time participants from the Milwaukee School of Engineering were selected by the judges as the top winners of this year’s student design competition.

The entry from the University of Washington won second prize, and Youngstown State University came in third. The judges were effusive in their praise of all the teams innovative solutions and especially on their work with clients in their respective communities to determine their projects’ energy efficiency needs.

“This really is the absolute best experience for any student thinking about a career in electrical construction, or really any sort of electrical technology,” said judge Tim McBride, Southern Contracting, San Marcos, Calif. McBride’s company donated additional prize money for the finalist teams.

The Green Energy Challenge invites teams of students studying electrical construction, engineering, design and management to conduct an energy audit of a nearby commercial or institutional facility in need of energy-efficiency improvements. Based on their energy audit findings, teams then submit a preliminary design of an energy retrofit that could include alternative energy sources.

YSU student team member Brittany Stillwagon lead off the team’s presentation yesterday, describing their client’s energy needs and the retrofits the team recommended. “We really wanted to find solutions that fit M-7’s requirements and offered opportunities for integrated growth.” The YSU project focused on the M-7 Technologies manufacturing facility, which has significant energy demands in manufacturing and repairing large-scale industrial products through the application of advanced digital measurement equipment and database technology. The students devised a plan for M-7, which is located just a few miles off campus, that incorporated lighting retrofits along with new wind, photovoltaic and hydroelectric power systems.