Three
Waterloo
chemical
engineering
students
beat
out
teams
from
across
the
country
to
win
the
first
Walmart
Green
Student
Challenge
on
February
29
at
the
TMX
Broadcast
Centre
in
Toronto.
The
fourth-year
students
-
Arthur
Yip,
Jake
Yeung,
Alan
Thai
-
came
out
on
top
with
their
idea
of
an
integrated
energy
hub
for
retail
distribution
centres.
The
hub
is
intended
to
integrate
solar
rooftop
panels,
be
connected
to
the
smart
electricity
grid
to
provide
grid
balancing
and
auxiliary
services,
and
produce
net
economic
benefits
estimated
at
$1.35
million
per
year
over
20
years.
“We
are
excited
to
have
brought
our
project
into
the
real
world
through
this
competition
and
we
are
committed
to
bringing
our
sustainable
green
energy
hub
design
to
life,”
said
Yip.
By
winning
the
top
prize
the
team
will
be
flown
to
Calgary
on
the
Walmart
jet
to
tour
the
company's
newest
distribution
centre
to
see
how
their
project
could
be
implemented
there.
The
students
also
won
$60,000,
$30,000
of
which
they
are
donating
to
the
Waterloo’s
chemical
engineering
department
for
future
fourth-year
design
projects.
“The
department
is
extremely
proud
of
this
outstanding
accomplishment,”
said
Tom
Duever,
chair
of
Waterloo’s
chemical
engineering
department.
“As
faculty
members
we
draw
a
lot
of
satisfaction
from
seeing
our
students
succeed
in
this
prestigious
competition."
The
Waterloo
Engineering
students
competed
against
teams
from
the
University
of
Cape
Breton,
York
University,
Western
University
and
University
of
Calgary.
The
five
semi-finalists
ideas,
which
ranged
from
an
app
to
replace
printed
receipts
to
regulating
temperatures
in
winter
and
summer,
were
presented
to
a
panel
of
Canada’s
top
CEOs.