The app, developed in Singapore by ENGIE and NTU, uses gamification and crowd-sourcing to educate students and reduce energy consumption on campus.
ENGIE, one of the world’s energy leaders, today announced its collaboration with Energy Market Authority (EMA) to introduce its energy efficiency smartphone app PowerZee at tertiary institutions from November onwards, to educate students and change mindsets and behaviours. This is under the newly launched Project OptiWatt, led by EMA to promote demand-side management initiatives to optimise energy consumption.
The trial-version will be rolled-out in Singapore at several education institutions. Next month, it will also be deployed at the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris in France.
PowerZee is a pioneering smartphone app, designed for educational institutions, that engages students and staff through gamification, social networking and crowd sourcing, advocating better use of campus resources in energy, water and waste.
Some of the key features include:
- Green coach encourages eco-gestures, small daily actions to save energy and increase your score;
- Temperature crowdsourcing tool that allows students to interact with the university’s energy facility management about their classroom temperatures. The data collected is processed and analysed in order to enable the facility management team to adapt the air conditioning settings;
- Community networking tool to foster a sustainable culture among the local community, by sharing green hotspots, activities and events;
- Game option enables users to challenge their friends to take part in bigger challenges on campus.
PowerZee also provides regular analyses on campus energy consumption to keep students and staff informed about the actual impact of their actions and efforts.
“Research shows that informed energy consumers lead to potential energy savings of between 5 to 15 per cent. As such, in collaboration with NTU, we developed PowerZee based on gamification models to offer students practical ways to cut their energy consumption in a fun, interactive and social manner. The long-term vision for PowerZee, is to connect campuses around the world to compare energy savings, with Singapore and France as the first countries for PowerZee to be rolled out,” said Etienne Drouet, Director of ENGIE Lab Singapore.
Co-designed by ENGIE Lab and NTU, a pilot of the PowerZee app attracted 1,850 students, representing 4.4 per cent of the NTU population, using the campus as a ‘living lab’ to test the prototype between February and June 2015.
PowerZee is a product of ENGIE’s commitment to reduce environmental impact through energy innovation and technology in Asia. With the establishment of ENGIE Lab Singapore, supported by the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), solutions will be continuously developed to address the region’s energy challenges in a bid to build a better Singapore for future generations.
About ENGIE
ENGIE develops its businesses (power, natural gas, and energy services) around a model based on responsible growth to take on the major challenges of energy’s transition to a low-carbon economy: access to sustainable energy, climate-change mitigation and adaptation, and the rational use of resources.
The Group provides individuals, cities and businesses with highly efficient and innovative solutions largely based on its expertise in four key sectors: renewable energy, energy efficiency, liquefied natural gas and digital technology. ENGIE employs 154,950 people worldwide and achieved revenues of €69.9 billion in 2015.
The Group is listed on the Paris and Brussels stock exchanges (ENGI) and is represented in the main international indices: CAC 40, BEL 20, DJ Euro Stoxx 50, Euronext 100, FTSE Eurotop 100, MSCI Europe, DJSI World, DJSI Europe and Euronext Vigeo (Eurozone 120, Europe 120 and France 20).
ENGIE has been operating in Singapore for over 20 years, where it employs around 1,600 employees. Besides offering energy efficiency and facility management services, ENGIE trades a wide range of energy financial products as well as LNG, conducts R&D projects and holds a 30 per cent stake in Senoko Energy, which is the largest electricity generator in the country.
For more information, see www.engie.com and follow us on Twitter @ENGIEGroup.
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