INESC TEC competes for energy efficiency
From January 2019, the European project GReSBAS will make Portuguese and Turks compete for energy efficiency. The competition will be incorporated in the mobile and computer app that was developed within the framework of the project. In an early stage, this competition between Portugal and Turkey will only be made in one of INESC TEC’s floors and in three residential buildings in Istanbul (Turkey), since these are the demonstration areas of the project.
How will the international competition work? Two challenges will be launched every week so that everyone that is in the GReSBAS demonstration areas improves their energy performance. More energy-efficient behaviours make “players” score goals.
Among the challenges that will be in this imaginary 4 000 km football field are goals such as turning off 50% of the computers during night period or turning off the lights during lunchtime.
Each target achieved corresponds to a goal scored. The level of demand will increase throughout the eight games of the championship, which will last for four weeks. The app allows to understand how far or near the players are from reaching the opponent's goal and from trying to score.
In order to stimulate even more the option for sustainable behaviours from an energy point of view, the players will receive messages during the games with the results at the same time that the next challenge is announced.
“In the end, and regardless of the winning country, we can say we all win. In INESC TEC’s specific case, we believe that this kind of initiatives bring benefits to the institution, not only from a financial point of view, but also from environmental and social ones! We are promoting the work group in favour of the Institute. It is what any organisation wants.”, mentioned Joel Soares, senior researcher from Centre for Power and Energy Systems (CPES).
The GReSBAS project is composed of a three-entity consortium from two countries – INESC TEC from Portugal, ITU (Istanbul Technical University) (ITU) and MAKEL from Turkey – and aims at promoting the energy efficiency of the buildings through gamification techniques (using elements and techniques of games in real-world situations).
The project, which started in April 2016, is funded by TUBITAK and FCT under the ERA-Net Smart Grids Plus Initiative framework programme and should last until 2019.
More information on this project may be found here: http://gresbas.eu/gresbas-site/en/.
