Over 200 students, start-ups and energy efficiency experts from 20 countries accepted the invitation to Europe’s biggest Energy Efficiency hackathon in Berlin to develop digital solutions around energy efficiency. The challenge set by Danfoss was to develop the energy efficient supermarket of tomorrow.
The overall winner was the team “ChangeItLater”, which chose the Danfoss Challenge “Supermarket of Tomorrow”. The team of nine students from Barcelona, Lisbon, Kiel, Frankfurt (Oder), Edinburgh and Stockholm, was able to convince the jury with a doorless refrigerator that reduces energy loss by up to 30 percent. “We are very happy that one of the Danfoss teams won this hackathon”, explains Ole Møller-Jensen, Managing Director of Danfoss GmbH.
“We as a company took part in the Energy Efficiency Hackathon to be challenged and inspired by talented young people who think ifferently from us. The participants were immensely committed and tried to make the topic of energy efficiency as interesting as possible for companies and consumers. In return, we were able to introduce Danfoss as a company to the participants and show them how exciting our projects are.”
Solution for the networked supermarket of the future
The team “ChangeItLater” won the Hackathon with a big lead. In addition to the main prize, they were also awarded for the best Danfoss Challenge and the best design, which highlighted the added value for consumers. They designed the “Coolect”, a doorless medium-temperature refrigerator, which reduces energy loss by 12 to 30 percent. The goods are selected via a touch screen, which not only provides information on the product but also on its CO2 emissions. The goods are dispensed via a flap, just like in a beverage vending machine. At the same time, the refrigerator meets the individual needs of consumers for gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian or Fairtrade products.
Since many supermarkets still rely on conventional technologies, electricity is the biggest source of costs right after the purchase of goods. Over the year, cooling systems are used only 30 percent of the time, and their waste heat is released unused into the environment.
Consumers are also currently changing their mindset. They expect supermarkets to be environmentally friendly, to sell fresh, healthy products and to offer a good shopping experience. Already today, many networked supermarkets around the world are regulating their refrigeration and heat consumption using Danfoss technologies.
About the Energy Efficiency Hackathon 2019
How can we create a sustainable energy future to fight climate change? This was the theme of Europe’s biggest Energy Efficiency Hackathon, held by Deutsche Unternehmensinitiative Energieeffizienz e. V. (DENEFF), the German Business Association for Energy Efficiency, on 7 and 8 April 2019 in Berlin for the third time. In four challenges, each of which was supervised by a corporate partner, the interdisciplinary teams used agile innovation methods to develop solutions for a successful Energiewende.
True to its motto of putting “energy efficiency first”, DENEFF functions as the mouthpiece of over 150 companies, including both startups and multinational enterprises like Bilfinger, Bosch, Danfoss, Evonik, Siemens, E.ON, Philips, Knauf, Rockwool, SCHÜCO, Grundfos,
Sonepar, Veolia, Saint Gobain, Velux, Ista, Schneider Electric, or Xella. The EnergyEfficiencyHack2019 was supported by Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU) – the German Federal Environmental Foundation. Other partners involved were Launchlabs, InnoEnergy, ClimateKIC, HPI School of Design Thinking, Global Goals Berlin, eejobs.de, N3XTCODER, AXEL - The Energy-Accelerator and the Royal Danish Embassy in Berlin.
