- Students will have to propose solutions for optimal energy efficiency in buildings
- The challenge has been promoted by the Gran Canaria Island Energy Council (CIEGC) and implemented by Fundadoras and Trib-Arte
- The aim is to optimise energy use while promoting STEAM subjects in girls and young women
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 13.12.2022. On Tuesday 13 December, the pilot challenge «Best Energy Detectives Gran Canaria» was presented, promoted by the Cabildo de Gran Canaria through the Gran Canaria Island Energy Council (CIEGC) and implemented by the Fundadoras foundation and the cultural and social association Trib-Arte with the collaboration of the Finnova foundation in the framework of the European initiative «Enerbuild» and the «Girls4Tech» project developed by Finnova. The challenge aimed to generate ideas that could improve the use of energy in buildings to mitigate the effects of climate change, while promoting STEAM careers in young people, especially girls.
The challenge has been proposed to 40 students of the CIFP Felo Monzón Grau Bassas belonging to the training cycles of Renewable Energies, Networks and Water Treatment Stations, Education and Environmental Control. Members of the Trib-Arte association and teachers from the centre participated as mentors in the practical workshop.
The participants of the challenge have learned first-hand how the software that «Enerbuild» uses to analyse energy consumption situations works. They will then propose solutions to make energy use more efficient. Over the next two weeks, they will develop proposed solutions to this problem. At the end of December, a jury formed by Trib-Arte, Hiper-It and Fundadoras will choose the most innovative solution and the members of the winning team will be invited to visit the European Parliament and the Parlamentarium in Brussels.
Lola Bordás, CMO of Finnova, head of the «Womenfortech» initiative and president of the Fundadoras Foundation, and Carla García, European Project Manager, were present at the inauguration of the challenge. The latter mentioned that «At Finnova we carry out different challenge resolution programmes such as Accelerathon, the Startup Europe Awards and the Finnova Challenges. This project will serve to promote the Energy in Buildings Challenge for 2030».
Raúl García Brink, from the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, explained that the CIEGC is developing different actions to encourage innovation in young people and their involvement in the island’s energy transition. «In this case, we have given the students the history of the Enerbuild project that we are developing in the El Sabinal social and health centre so that, based on these real data, they can try to locate the energy inefficiencies of the building and propose measures to improve the energy consumption of this centre for the elderly».
The director of the CIFP Felo Monzón Grau-Bassas, Adela Palomo Blanco, highlighted the needs of the islands for professional profiles in the sector of renewable energies, education and environmental control, energy and water. «Through these initiatives we are able to set up simulations of what the world of work will be like when the students go out to work abroad», she said.
As part of our commitment to the 2030 agenda, this activity aims to achieve equal opportunities, which in turn is part of Sustainable Development Goal 5: gender equality. It is also an educational way of involving young people in the fight against climate change. The innovative ideas used in «Enerbuild» serve to raise awareness among future generations of the importance of making good use of technology to move towards a more prosperous society, in which climate change and energy optimisation are no longer one of the major problems.
In addition, Fundadoras works to fight climate change, with collaborations with the Climate Kic programme. An example would be the Pionners programme. This energy improvement project in buildings is actually a solution to link young people in a practical way.
About Enerbuild
The «Enerbuild» initiative in the framework of the EIT Climate-KIC programme presents an energy optimisation system that is being developed in a pilot building of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, with the aim of mitigating the adverse effects of climate change. The Internet of Things platform HiPerWare, a tool of the German group BPS International dedicated to Big Data, and the Portuguese smart maintenance platform Infraspeak, are acting as technological pillars of a combined solution based on analysing and monitoring supply systems by collecting Big Data, with the aim of detecting anomalies and providing recommendations on system optimisation.
About Fundadoras Foundation
Fundadoras is a statewide Association for the promotion of female entrepreneurship that has been operating since 2018. The objectives of Fundadoras are to Add Ecosystem, Reward and Recognise, Disseminate and Position.
About Trib-Arte Cultural and Social Association
It is a team of professionals from the educational, social and artistic fields that gives innovative and creative answers in different lines of action. The members of Trib-Arte have different professional profiles related to social work, pedagogy, social education and the world of art in its various forms.
About the Energy Council of Gran Canaria
An organisation associated with the Cabildo de Gran Canaria that was created with the intention of promoting clean energies, stimulating different energy saving and efficiency policies in homes and economic sectors of the islands, while promoting research, development and technological innovation together with local councils and other institutions.
About Finnova
Finnova is a Spanish-Belgian non-profit foundation based in Brussels (Belgium) and present in Spain in the Valencian Community, the Basque Country, Andalusia, the Community of Madrid, Extremadura and the Canary Islands. The foundation works for the promotion and development of innovation and entrepreneurship at EU level and operates through collaborations and partnerships in all EU countries. Finnova’s experience in leading communication activities and dissemination of European projects is combined with a solid proven track record in business creation and entrepreneurial support programmes, such as accelerators, incubators and incubators. It is also committed to the training and employability of young people.