KIC InnoEnergy master students receive award from Vattenfall at the Energy Dialogue 2014
The third year in a row Vattenfall has donated KTH a sum of 40 000 SEK to award the best Master Thesis in energy field. This year all three top prizes, handed out at the Energy Dialogue 2014 on 20 November, went to the former KIC InnoEnergy Master School students. The first prize was awarded to Bram van der Heijde, who studied MSc Smart Cities, for his thesis on how the energy consumption of nearly 15 000 buildings in Stockholm can be improved.
Last week Vattenfall Energy Award for the best MSc thesis projects in the energy field was handed out for the third time. The jury consisted of four professors from KTH, a representative from Vattenfall and from the Ny Teknik newspaper. The winners were announced at the Energy Dialogue, annual conference hosted by KTH Energy Platform, and Vattenfall’s prize of SEK 40 000 was divided between the best MSc theses.
Three theses were selected from a total of 34 received applications and based on criteria such as level of communication, novelty and contribution to solving energy related problem in the world or in society. All three finalists were students of KIC InnoEnergy Master School that offers MSc programs in sustainable energy with a focus on innovation and entrepreneurship. In Sweden, Vattenfall and KTH are formal partners of KIC InnoEnergy who are active in several master’s programs.
The third prize of SEK 5 000 was awarded to Judith Maresa Hartl (MSc SELECT) and her thesis "The Energy Kiosk Model for Electrification, Status Quo and Future Strategies" in the field of Energy Engineering and Management. The work described in this thesis deals mainly with how solar power and so-called "energy kiosks" can contribute to the electricity supply of low-income households in, among others, Asian and African developing countries. The thesis discusses and draws attention to both technical and economic aspects.
The second prize of SEK 10 000 went to Rita Bailão Martins Fernandes (MSc RENE), who wrote about "Efficient Volvo Bus Cooling System, Using Electrical Fans - A comparison between hydraulic and electrical fans" within the Energy Technology discipline. This study evaluated advantages and disadvantages of hydraulic and electric fan systems as well as analysed and compared technical, economic and energy policy issues.
The first prize and a scholarship of SEK 25 000 was received by Bram van der Heijde (MSc Smart Cities) for his thesis work "Big Data Analytics towards a Retrofitting Plan for the City of Stockholm" performed at the Industrial Ecology division in cooperation with Fortum. Van der Heijde’s thesis summarised and evaluated the processing of large datasets, so-called "Big Data", for nearly 15 000 buildings in Stockholm with the goal to find patterns and track inefficiency in energy consumption. The author also provided suggestions on measures for decreasing the energy use that can be beneficial for the city of Stockholm.
The jury motivated their choice to award van der Heijde the first prize: "A thesis where recent methodologies are used for studying a timely topic. ‘Big Data’ and ‘Smart Cities’ are buzz words of our time. The thesis demonstrates a methodology to evaluate measures for decreasing the energy use and the environmental impact of the complicated system we call cities."
Bram van der Heijde finds KIC InnoEnergy students’ top rankings noteworthy, but not surprising, as he highlights the many advantages of the education and points out that “KIC InnoEnergy creates a very good environment for people to share thoughts on the topic of sustainable energy provision”.