2014 Green Brain Finalists announced…
The final presentations of the "Green Brain of the Year – 2014", the international project competition which offers awards to high school and university students, were held at METU Northern Cyprus Campus. This year marks the third year of the competition, which is regularly organized by the METU NCC Sustainable Environment and Energy Systems Graduate Program, to increase and enhance awareness on the sustainability of the environment, energy and water resources. The competition is sponsored by Kuzey Kıbrıs Turkcell (KKTCELL).
Overall, 271 projects, designed by applicants from 17 different countries, were submitted to the Green Brain of the Year – 2014. The 10 finalist teams (five in the 'high school' and five in the 'university' category) presented their projects in front of the jury, and among those, the finalists who ranked the first, second and third places in each category were selected. The Green Brain of the Year – 2014 awards were presented to the winners during the opening ceremony of the new academic year, which was held on Friday, September 26 at METU Northern Cyprus Campus.
The following is a list of the jury members:
- Abbas Güçlü, columnist for Milliyet,
- Yusuf Ertaç, co-founder of Synergy Global Energy,
- Abdullah Buğrahan Karaveli, EU Expert at the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology of the Republic of Turkey,
- Aslı Arslan, R&D Director at Intel, Turkey,
- Prof. Dr. Ayşen Türkman, European University of Lefke, Faculty of Engineering,
- Prof. Dr. Günnur Koçar, Director of Solar Energy Institute, Ege University,
- Prof. Dr. Gülfem Bakan, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Department of Environmental Engineering,
- Prof. Dr. Kağan Tuncay, METU, Department of Civil Engineering,
- Assoc. Prof. Dr. Murat Sönmez, METU Northern Cyprus Campus, Department of Mechanical Engineering,
- Arif Künar, Director General of VEN ESCO.
HIGH SCHOOL CATEGORY
FINALISTS:
| Title | Authors | School | City / Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elektrik alan ile göl ve akarsularda ötrofikasyona neden olan Fosfat (PO4-3) ve Nitrat (NO3-) iyonlarının sudan ayrılması (submitted in Turkish) | Alican Şafak Özdek İbrahim Ertuğrul Erek |
Özel Bahçeşehir Fen ve Teknoloji Lisesi | İstanbul / Turkey |
| ALGAIR Kavram Proje Bildirisi (submitted in Turkish) | Emre Hatay Ahmet Özer |
Marmaris Halıcı Ahmet Urkay Anadolu Lisesi | Muğla / Turkey |
| "Dedemden Torunuma" Projesi (submitted in Turkish) | Şevval İlke Güneysu Ezgi Nur Benek |
Samsun Garip Zeycan Yıldırım Fen Lisesi | Samsun / Turkey |
| Harvesting Water the Beetle Style | Daniyal Motan Arvin Anoop |
Karachi Grammar School | Karachi / Pakistan |
| Yağmur Suyuyla Damla Sulamayı Destekleme Projesi (submitted in Turkish) | Kubilay Tekin Hande Nur Özçatal |
İMKB Mehmet Akif Ersoy Teknik ve Endüstri Meslek Lisesi | Sakarya / Turkey |
AWARD WINNING PROJECTS
1- Harvesting Water - Beetle Style
Arvin Anoop and Daniyal Motan, A-level 2nd Year, Karachi Grammar School (Karachi, Pakistan) The Namib Desert Beetle, which positions itself toward the direction of the prevailing sea breeze, uses the hydrophobic (water-repellent) and hydrophilic (water-attracting) patterned surface of its wings to harvest moisture from the air, by first getting it to condense on its back and then storing the water. Daniyal and Arvin, who have a passion for biomimicry (using nature as an inspiration for technology), looked at the Namib Desert Beetle which harvests moisture from the air to survive in an African desert, and created a concept-based unit design requiring no external energy source, by mimicing the way beetle survives.
2- "To My Grandchildren from Grandpa" Project
Şevval İlke Güneysu and Ezgi Nur Benek, Garip Zeycan Yıldırım Science High School (Samsun, Turkey) Şevval and Ezgi have developed the concept "Seed House Pilots" to draw attention to the risks posed by genetically modified plants, which has been a growing issue in recent years. They also looked at the rich diversity of plants inherited from our ancestors, which grow in rural areas and have value for producing new varieties. They thought of solutions to pass down the seeds which have been inherited from our grandparents from generation to generation, untouched by genetic modification. Their project proposes an annual festival during which such seeds are sown and awards are given.
3- ALGAIR Concept Project Paper
Ahmet Özer and Emre Hatay, Marmaris Halıcı Ahmet Urkay Anatolian High School (Muğla, Turkey) Photosynthetic algae, the major primary producers of the Earth's atmospheric oxygen, are capable of producing oxygen through photosynthesis. The project ALGAIR, designed by Ahmet and Emre, set out to develop economical and sustainable solutions for human-made air pollution; it suggests that algae grown on the roofs in cities that are dominated by buildings, and which do not lend themselves to tree planting operations due to physical restraints, will benefit the environment by absorbing carbon dioxide and giving out oxygen into the atmosphere. This is also a solar-powered project.
SPECIAL RECOGNITIONS
| Title | Authors | School | City / Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dünyamızın Karbon Dengesi (submitted in Turkish) | İlbey Evcil Evren Korkmaz |
Yıldız Tınas İzmiroğlu Anadolu Lisesi | İzmir / Turkey |
| Methane-A Solution | Ayah Abu Hantash Rand Thnaibat |
Jubilee School | Amman / Jordan |
| Böğürtlen Suyundan Elektrik Üretimi (submitted in Turkish) | Mert Can Selena Işıldar |
Özel TAKEV Fen ve Anadolu Lisesi | İzmir / Turkey |
| Carbon Sequestration and Renewable Energy through Biochar | Syed Ammar Mahdi Meher Jamy | Beaconhouse Margalla Campus, A-Levels Branch | Islamabad / Pakistan |
| Güneşten Gelen Güç (submitted in Turkish) | Selahattin Selek Kader Zeytin |
TED Konya Koleji | Konya / Turkey |
| STELLA Inspired Solution for Light Production | Habiba M. Youssef Rawda Z. Al-Askary | Maadi STEM School For Girls | Giza / Egypt |
UNIVERSITY CATEGORY
FINALISTS:
| Title | Author1 | School | City / Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solar Scare Mosquito | Pranav Agarwal Mukunda Bundredi | SAICE | Pondicherry / India |
| Production of Purified Water by Vacuumed Evaporator, Clean Energy from Biogas Process and Reformed Coal From Refinement Sludge | Ülker İmge Koca Aliye Bihter Günal | METU | Ankara / Turkey |
| An integrated approach for energy performance and indoor environmental quality assessment in school buildings | Hermano Bernardo Luísa Dias Pereira | University of Coimbra | Coimbra / Portugal |
| The Waste Vegetable Oil can be Recycled to Biodiesel | Ömer Nergiz Gaye Yücel | Gazi University | Ankara / Turkey |
| Clamshell as Environment Friendly Toothpaste | Amalia Nur Alifah Farah Adrienne | Institute Technology Bandung | Bandung / Indonesia |
1- Solar Scare Mosquito
Pranav Agarwal and Mukunda Bundredi, SAICE (Pondicherry, India) Over one million people die from malaria each year. Inspired by this fact, Pranav and Mukunda realised through focused research that mosquitoes need still freshwater for their larvae to grow and they cannot survive in water waved by the wind. They developed a solar-powered electro-mechanical floating system which kills mosquitoes at the larval stage before they develop into adult mosquitoes by creating ripples. The system also has properties such as closing automatically if the water level drops to zero. A first prototype of the system was tested and filmed, and the experimental data highlighting efficiency of the proposed solution provided.
2- Clamshell as Environment Friendly Toothpaste
Amalia Nur Alifah and Farah Adrienne, Institute Technology (Bandung, Indonesia) Amalia and Farah observed that clamshells on the long beaches of Indonesia cause both visual pollution and wastage. Even though clamshell is traditionally used in handicraft, no large quantities are utilized. The team's research revealed that clamshells contain calcium carbonate with high purity. They developed a more economical way of producing toothpaste, compared to that which employs traditional instruments and standard industrial methods. They have already figured out what additional job opportunities their idea might generate in coastal areas in Indonesia, and confirmed the efficiency of their product. They are now making plans to contact the dental health authorities.
3- Production of Purified Water by Vacuum Evaporator, Clean Energy from Biogas Process and Re-formed Coal From Refinement Sludge
Ülker İmge Koca and Aliye Bihter Günal, Middle East Technical University (Ankara, Turkey) İmge and Bihter were inspired by the idea that the calorific value of coal can increase when brown coal is mixed with the half-solids emerging as a sub-product of industrial refinement process. Based on their research, they have developed a system which can purify water by a solar-powered vacuum evaporator. They also revealed that biogas produced during the refinement of wastewater can be used as an alternative fuel, and thus, designed a multi purpose sustainable system.
SPECIAL RECOGNITIONS
| Title | Authors | School | City / Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mobile Phone Charger via Thermoelectric Mechanisms | Rahmeh Hammoudeh Nada Kamona | The Hashemite University | Amman / Jordan |
| The Hydroponic Revolution | Adam Dixon Joanna Stadnik |
Cardiff University & Cambridge University | Pocklington / United Kingdom |
| Energy Management System: Software application to manage/optimize Supply and Demand | Jack Edwar Tadros John Edwar Tadros |
Cairo University | Cairo / Egypt |
| Smart Horizontal Biopore as Flood Prevention for Developing Countries | Ibnu Ramadhon Sembodo Basuseno | Universitas Gadjah Mada & Universitas Padjajaran | Bekasi / Indonesia |
| The Hydro-Scope System | Gokul Kathirvel Gowthami P. | Sri Krishna College of Engineering & Technology, Anna University | Coimbatore / India |