Three submissions win at the Technion’s Energy Conservation Competition

Generating energy by working out at the gym, checking real-time energy consumption & exploiting Technion’s position on the slopes of the Carmel

Green dynamo – exploiting the potential difference in water flow;

Energy screen – displaying data about energy conservation;

Fitness club – exploiting energy generated by working out.

These are the three submissions that won the first-of-its-kind competition held at the Technion on the subject of energy conservation. Tens of proposals were submitted to the panel of judges headed by Technion President, Prof. Peretz Lavie, and comprising Technion researchers and representatives of the Israel Electric Company. Of the 13 submissions that made it to the final round, three won.

Green dynamo – The submission by student Philip Auchman, of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, won first prize. He proposed exploiting the Technion’s surplus water pressure, which is high thanks to the Technion’s position on the slopes of the Carmel Mountain. “By using a simple device, a type of turbine that penetrates the pipe and rotates a dynamo, we can create energy,” he explains. “Because of the steep slope on which the Technion is situated, wide use is made of pressure reducers, and in my opinion, we can exploit this pressure to generate energy.”

Noam Berkovitz, from the Technion’s Computerization and Information Systems Division, won second place with his proposal to place “energy screens” around the campus. These screens would display information about the real-time energy use in each building and even warn about energy over-consumption.

Doron Laor, a student in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, won third place. He proposed using the energy produced by users of the Technion’s fitness club to generate energy. “People in the fitness club burn calories and we can exploit their activities to generate energy,” he says. “For example, all the runners or walkers on the different apparatuses can generate energy by their activity, which can operate the air conditioners.”

Itzik Romano, the Technion’s electrical engineer, said that ten divisions in the institute had managed, over the past four years, to save over five million shekels worth of energy and additional faculties are set to join the Technion project to save energy. “The competition that we held is one more step in our efforts to save energy and increase awareness about saving,” he emphasizes.

The competition was held in cooperation with Tal Goldrath and the Technion’s “Green Campus” team, the Samuel Neaman Institute, and the Israel Electric Company.

Executive Vice President and Director General of the Technion, Dr. Avital Stein, who awarded the prizes to the three winners, said that not for nothing is the Technion known worldwide for the creativity of its students and graduates, and the winning submissions are further proof of this.

Above: The three winners (sitting, right to left): Noam Berkovitz, Philip Auchman, and Doron Laor. Standing (right to left): Tal Goldrath (coordinator of the “Green Campus”), Dr. Avital Stein, Itzik Romano, and Beni Cohen, head of the Department for Energy Efficiency in the Israel Electric Company. Photo by: Yoav Bechar, Technion Spokesman.