UL Sustainability Challenge – ThermAL BridgE ReducTion

 

Earlier this year, we launched the UL Sustainability Challenge to encourage our students to develop research projects to tackle the Climate Crisis.

The competition was open to both undergraduate and postgraduate students, and offered up to €10,000 in funding to develop working pilot projects to show how their innovative ideas could be scaled up to make an impact on the biggest challenge of our time.

Having been overwhelmed with inventive entries, we have now announced the winners of the inaugural Sustainability Challenge, and are excited to showcase their ideas – and the research that they’ll be conducting over the coming months.

ThermAL BridgE ReducTion

With energy prices skyrocketing and an ever-growing demand for more energy, ensuring that our buildings retain heat as efficiently as possible is paramount in the face of the Climate Crisis.

Mihai Penica and William O’Brien (CONFIRM) hope to address the issue of energy inefficiency in Ireland’s buildings by using thermal imaging drones to identify where insulation can be improved; in addition, they aim to use the collected data to obtain the max solar energy (kilowatt-peak –  kWp, this term is used when referring to solar PV panels) output for the dwellings passed. They plan to use thermal mapping and AI analysis to create an open-source map so that residents can visualise the amount, location and cost of waste heat leaving their homes - and take action to make their homes more energy efficient.

Professor Norelee Kennedy, Vice President of Research at University of Limerick said: “The global energy crisis has brought into focus the real and immediate need to tackle energy sustainability in Ireland’s housing stock. This project will combine artificial intelligence and drone technology to gain invaluable insights to the energy efficiency and solar potential of our infrastructure.”

We spoke with William to understand what winning the Sustainability Challenge meant to him, and what he hopes to achieve:

Q: Congratulations on being a winner of the Sustainability Challenge. What does it mean to you to have your project chosen and funded?

A: I’ve always been interested in solving problems, this award now enables me to apply my engineering and research skills in a topic that needs to be addressed, and to receive the external validation that my proposal was worthy of pursuing really encourages me to become more active in research.

Q: Why did you choose this particular project?

A: I know of many homeowners that are looking to upgrade their homes and that they get confused when looking at the range of options that the market has to offer. I wanted to provide a platform that would make data gathering and presentation very simple and therefore make the homeowners decision process easier.

 

Q: What do you hope to achieve over the coming months?

A: A working prototype that shows the potential of AI when applied to Thermal Images obtained from drones…. essentially a platform for homeowners to use as a tool when assessing their own home upgrades.

Q: Do you have any advice for other students who want to become more engaged in climate action or sustainability research?

A: There are many research climate/sustainability projects currently underway globally, look at them and ask yourself the question, “can I do that and if I did do it, could I make a better version?”. When it comes to engaging in sustainability research, the small actions of many people will lead to a big impact on the overall challenge at hand.