On top of promoting energy efficiency and conservation, some teams taking part in this year's HK Electric "Green Energy Dreams Come True" competition came up with innovative projects addressing both green and social issues in Hong Kong.
Champion for 2018 was HKUGA College. The team initiated an energy-saving competition on campus and installed solar panels on the rooftop of the school building to study the effectiveness of energy conservation and the use of renewable energy.
First runner-up was Christian Alliance SW Chan Memorial College who proposed to turn a landfill area into a memorial park through greening. Besides using biogas from the landfill to power the site, they also suggested converting cargo containers into columbaria powered by solar panels, addressing the issues of land shortage and conservation, as well as the opposing views about landfill and columbaria often heard from the public.
Projects from HKSKH Bishop Hall Secondary School and Leung Shek Chee College both came third. The former suggested using remote sensors to monitor if home appliances were switched off to help the underprivileged to save on energy, while the latter produced an MTV featuring a rap dance to promote green messages on social media.
Now in its fourth year, the "Green Energy Come True" competition has been encouraging secondary school students to promote energy efficiency, renewable energy and energy sustainability. This year, 13 teams and their green dream proposals were short-listed. Each team was allotted seed money of up to HK$50,000 by HK Electric and was paired with a young engineer or professional from the Company to act as their mentor and guide, helping the students to realise their dreams.
Speaking at the prize-presentation ceremony, HK Electric General Manager (Corporate Development), Mr. Yee Tak-chow, described the competition as a good platform for young talents to fulfil their green and STEAM dreams.
"The Government has been actively promoting STEAM education aimed at developing students to become lifelong learners in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics to enable them to meet the challenges of the 21st century. This competition has allowed students to apply STEAM teachings in scientific experiments and the use of green technologies," Mr. Yee said.
"We are also happy to see that many projects attempted to address some social issues. Their project is not only a green dream, but also their hope for the future. We look forward to seeing more of these dreams being realised," he added.
Apart from being innovative, promotion and presentation techniques were also key focuses this year. Two new awards, the "Social Media Promotion Award" and the "Best Presentation Team Award" , were added to encourage students to strengthen their presentation skills and promote green messages among the community.
HK Electric General Manager (Public Affairs), Ms. Mimi Yeung, said she was impressed by the brilliant performances of students on stage. She said she hoped the students would utilise their talents to actively promote green messages to those around them.
HKUGA College, Leung Shek Chee College and CCC Heep Woh College won the "Best Presentation Team Award" while HKUGA College also won the 'Social Media Promotion Award' with over 30,000 followers on its Instagram page and became the biggest winner of the day with three awards.
At the presentation and award ceremony held earlier, the adjudicators selected the winners based on their written reports and final presentations. Judging criteria included the project's theme, achievements, contents, effectiveness, creativity, sustainability, as well as their presentation skills and teamwork. All winning teams were presented with scholarships as a token of encouragement.
The adjudicators said that they were very pleased to see the completion of innovative projects of such high quality and wide diversity, with the emphasis on new trends and social needs. They were also impressed to see that students had put in efforts not only on research and analysis but also on promotion, project management and presentation. This opportunity was a very good life planning lesson for them.
Besides Mr. Yee and Ms. Yeung, the adjudication panel comprised members of the other advisory committee of HK Electric's Education Fund, including Associate Vice-President (Academic Support) of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Professor Ho Siu-lau; Principal of the Queen's College Old Boys' Association Secondary School, Mr. Hui Yung-chung; Associate Professor, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering of the University of Hong Kong, Dr. Bryan Pong; Senior School Development Officer (Career Guidance Section) of the Education Bureau, Ms. Sandy Wong; and the Deputy Chief Executive of the Conservancy Association, Mr. Rico Wong.
HK Electric's Smart Power Campaign promotes energy efficiency and a low-carbon lifestyle through a series of educational activities every year. In addition to the "Green Energy Dreams Come True" Competition, the "Happy Green Schools Label Programme" offers educational activities all year round to its more than 420 member schools to spread the appropriate green messages.
For more details, please visit the Smart Power Campaign website and facebook: www.hkelectric.com/smartpower; and www.facebook.com/hkelectricsmartpowercampaign/ or call 3143 3727.
The winning teams of this year's "Green Energy Dreams Come True" Competition are:
Awards | School | Project |
|---|
Champion | HKUGA College | Initiated an energy saving competition in school and installed solar panels on the roof-top of the school building to study the effectiveness on energy conservation and the use of renewable energy.  |
1st Runner-up | Christian Alliance SW Chan Memorial College | Proposed building a green memorial park at landfill, with the site fuelled by biogas. Renovate containers with solar panels to be used as columbaria in the memorial park.   |
2nd Runner-ups (Two in total)
| Leung Shek Chee College | Created an online platform, the Green Green Channel, for sharing environmental resources. Rap dance and short videos with green messages were produced and posted on the channels and various social media.  |
| HKSKH Bishop Hall Secondary School | Developed a handy device for monitoring the on/off status of electrical appliances, helping the underprivileged save on energy.  |
Merit (Three in total) | CCC Heep Woh College | Produced documentary videos to illustrate the energy crisis.  |
| Helen Liang Memorial Secondary School（Shatin） | Developed app games with AR technology to promote renewable energy and energy conservation.   |
| HKCWC Fung Yiu King Memorial Secondary School | Produced a mobile greenhouse powered by solar panels for educational purpose.  |
Social Media Promotion Award | HKUGA College | With over 30,000 likes in their Instagram |
Best Presentation Team Award (Three in total) | HKUGA College | |
| CCC Heep Woh College | |
| Leung Shek Chee College | |