A team of students from Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) was short-listed in the 'Green the World' University Challenge, a competition organised by Schneider Electric and officiated by the Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), Malaysia, Tuan Haji Fadillah Yusof.

The challenge was organised to inspire university students to develop energy efficient proposals and solutions, as well as to educate the younger generation on solutions that can achieve significant and sustainable savings. The challenge also aims to encourage local undergraduates to be creative and innovative.

The team from UTAR, called 'AvantGarde', consists of Mak Kwan Wuey, an Electronic and Communications Engineering student and Liu Chee Wei, an Electrical and Electronic Engineering student.

AvantGarde initially submitted a proposal based on a number of scenarios given by Schneider Electric. The team's proposal was then picked as one of the best proposals that were submitted for the competition.

Upon being short-listed, AvantGarde was given the opportunity to attend a one-day workshop conducted by Schneider Electric to brief them on Schneider Electric's energy efficient products and solutions. The team was also allocated a budget by Schneider Electric to produce a small-scale prototype/demo unit of the product that they had proposed earlier.

In describing their early preparation for the competition, Liu explained, "Before coming up with our proposal, we did a lot of research on energy consumption to identify the electrical equipment that consumed the most energy. We also discussed on the ways in which we could maximise energy."

"I have to admit that it was tough doing all that research and discussion in the middle of our semester as we had to manage our time properly to do well in both the competition and in our studies, but we did it!" Liu enthused.

"I am very happy and excited to be short-listed in this competition," Mak added, "We have already started working on our prototype and I find it extremely fun discovering how the theoretical knowledge that I have learned through my lecturers can be used to make our prototype a success."

Prior to the finals, AvantGarde would be submitting another proposal to the organisers to describe the technical aspects of their product.

The team will be competing in the 'Green the World' University Challenge finals that will be held on 30 June 2009 at the Sunway Convention Centre. There, the team will be presenting their prototype/demo unit to the judges in anticipation of the final competition results.

Photo and Caption


Liu (left) and Mak at the Schneider Electric workshop.