Participants in the poster competition.

Group photo with the winners.

The IEEE RAS Malaysia Chapter and the IEEE UCSI Student branch held a poster competition with the topic Energy Conservation and Energy Efficiency. The event organiser and chair was IEEE RAS Malaysia Chapter Vice Chairman and also the IEEE UCSI Student Branch Counsellor, Dr Mohamed Khan and UCSI Electrical Engineering Lecturer Kalaiselvi Aramugam.

Energy conservation is the act of saving energy by reducing a service. In other words, to conserve energy, you need to cut back on your usage.  Energy efficiency is defined as saving energy, but keeping the same level of service. For example, if you turn off the lights when you leave a room, you are practicing energy conservation. If you replace an inefficient incandescent light bulb with a more efficient compact fluorescent bulb, you are practicing energy efficiency.

Energy conservation and energy efficiency are both ways to reduce consumption of energy, bringing the cost of electric bills down, and having less impact on the environment.

The main objective of this event was to come out with an idea to use energy calculators as a self-assessment tool to determine where energy inefficiencies are occurring and where improvements can be made.

The event started with a welcoming speech by Kalaiselvi, followed up by an introductory talk by Dr Mohamed Khan.

There were eight groups involved; each group consisting of three to five members. All the students were in the final year of their Electrical Engineering degree and power system was one of the core subjects. Each group was allocated with a maximum of 15 minutes for the presentation and five minutes for the Question and Answer session.

Marks were evaluated based on the abstract, introduction and purpose, methodology, tables and analysis, pictures and ideas, summary and conclusion, presentation and clarity of the poster. Dr Mohamed Khan and Kalaiselvi took the responsibility of being the panel judges for the competition.

Throughout the competition students demonstrated their skills, ideas and knowledge and showed great interest. The knowledge gained during their regular class work was also utilised well during the session. Total marks obtained by the individual group were evaluated by the two panel judges and the best group was awarded the first prize. The session ended with a concluding talk by Dr Mohamed Khan. Certificates were awarded for all the participants and special certificates were given for the first prize winners.