SoCS Students Finalists for Scotiabank EcoLiving Award

In March, several students from the School of Computer Science and the College of Business and Economics joined forces to change occupant behaviour, to reduce electricity consumption, and help achieve an energy neutral home as part of the NetZero Hackathon. The winning team is now a top three finalist for the Scotiabank EcoLiving Award.

The team, comprised of Aftab Ahmad, Nic Durish, and Ryan Haque of the SoCS, and Jimmy Luong of CBE, developed their solution - called ElecTrickle - during the NetZero Hackathon. The team won first place at the hackathon.

The goal of ElecTrickle is to allow users to set daily or weekly budgets for energy consumption, and then provide feedback to help the homeowner achieve those targets. Users also set consequences for going over budget; such as donating to a charity, or shaming through social media. ElecTrickle is competing against Das Haus from Ryerson, and another project from the University of Guelph called Flywheel Energy Storage. As finalists in the Student Leadership Award, the team has a chance at winning $10000.

Final decisions are expected later this summer.