DLSU-Manila students win business competition

MANILA, Philippines - Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management and automation, recently held the country finals of the Go Green in the City 2017 at the Ascott Hotel in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City, naming Team Green Zone from the De La Salle University-Manila as the winner of this year’s national competition.

Go Green in the City is a global business case challenge inviting students to undertake exceptional learning about Schneider Electric and gaining valuable insights into the world of smart cities and energy management. The competition aims to involve the younger generation to act on the current global energy situation that impacts everyone. It also allows Filipino students to contribute to the search for solutions to the global energy challenge while allowing them to learn from industry leaders and experts.

From more than 300 applications, three were shortlisted to present during the country finals.

The shortlisted projects were judged by Schneider Electric Philippines country president Claude Mazallon, Schneider Electric CFO for the Philippines and Taiwan Junmin Shen, and technical assistant to the Office of the President, Department of Energy special assistant to the Secretary and Philippine National Oil Company technical consultant Arwin Ardon, and were scored based on the idea and innovation they present, the feasibility of the project, and the students’ profiles and their potential to be part of Schneider Electric.

The winning team has been awarded P100,000 and mentorship from Schneider Electric Philippines’ team of experts in preparation for the Asia-Pacific regional finals on July 11, 2017 where they will be representing the Philippines.

The winners of this year’s country finals are Aaron Jules de Guzman and Iliana Bernice Tan or simply Team Green Zone from the De La Salle University-Manila. The duo presented a cooling project entitled “The Radiative-Heat-Recovering (RHR) Glass.”

Team Green Zone’s RHR Glass showcases a four-item design that altogether acts as an energy-absorbing insulation system, thereby reducing the total heat gain of a building while supplying energy for its own cooling system. This groundbreaking integration of transparent solar tube collectors and vacuum-insulated glasses gives the RHR glass three main competitive advantages over existing cooling and building technologies – it is versatile, extractive, and sustainable.

“Go Green in the City is my favorite Schneider Electric event because it forecasts a message of hope for the future. It’s so wonderful to see the youth so involved, committed, passionate, and creative about fixing the energy equation of the country,” Mazallon said.

He added, “Innovation, energy management, and industry automation are in our DNA and this is one of the reasons why we launched the Go Green in the City Competition a few years ago.”

In 2013, the Filipino team won the global championship. In 2015, the Philippines won the regional competition and became second runner-up in the global competition.

“Based on all the submissions this year, we’ve seen a lot of effort and passion. We are sure that the final Filipino team today will carry the flag of the Philippines very high in the regional and global competitions,” Mazallon said.