EcoCents

Meet the team

Our team name, WWW, captures our varying levels of spirit over the course of this rigorous hackathon: there's "We Will Win!", but also "We Won't Win..." or "Will We Win?". Hopefully, "When We Win", "Why We Win" will be because we were convincing in our solution for a real problem.

Meet our team! We've got Bei Ying, who keeps things lively during those tiring, long working calls calling Lewis every name under the sun—Robin, Junxue, Joshua—you name it, she's tried it! Rest assured, Lewis takes it in stride and responds to all of them.

Jokes aside, we are a multidisciplinary team with a background in design, engineering, and research. Our group aims to increase household energy efficiency for a sustainable future - one home at a time.

Team members: Lim Junxue (Software Engineer - backend), Seah Bei Ying (Software Engineer - frontend / product strategy), Robin Htun (Analytics, Research), Joshua Teo (UI/UX), Lewis Ten (User Research)

Problem statement

Singapore ranked 21st out of 155 countries/territories in terms of CO2 emissions per capita in 2021. Power generation is one of the major sources of Singapore’s carbon emissions, accounting for about 40% of total emissions. Households contribute about 15% of this through electricity consumption.

Since 2017, in bid to tackle an increasing average household energy consumption trend since 2007, the Ministry of Sustainability and Environment (MSE) has launched several public awareness campaigns, including:

• The Switch and Save Programme in 2018 to encourage the adoption of LED lights in smaller flats.

• The Energy-Saving Challenges in 2017 and 2018, which promoted simple electricity-saving tips across all households.

• The Mandatory Energy Labelling Scheme (MELS), in place since 2008, which covers an increasing variety of appliances.

• The Climate Friendly Household Programme since 2020 as well as the more recent Climate Vouchers to help households defray the costs of switching to more energy-efficient appliances.

However, the long-term effectiveness of these initiatives remains to be seen as average household electricity consumption is only now returning to pre-pandemic levels seen in 2019. Moreover, a hotter Singapore due to climate change poses an increasing challenge to energy-saving habits, such as using fans instead of air conditioning. While NEA is making efforts to help households become more energy efficient, people still find it hard to grasp energy labels. The technical considerations needed to buy the most suitable energy-efficient appliances based on personal needs can quickly become overwhelming.

Buying the right energy-efficient appliances is crucial and arguably a more robust part of the equation in the context of households as it locks in energy consumption demand for years, if not decades. People do not change big-ticket electricity appliances like air-conditioners or refrigerators readily. Therefore, we aim to help homeowners improve their household energy efficiency by making it easy to understand what makes a holistic, informed decision when it comes to buying electrical appliances.

Proposed solution

Background
To understand the challenges homeowners face in choosing energy-efficient appliances, we conducted a survey and in-depth interviews with friends, family, and colleagues. The primary painpoints identified were a difficulty in making sense of complex technical information as well as making accurate evaluations based on personal household needs. As air-conditioners make up the largest share of household energy consumption (NEA Household Energy Consumption Study, 2017), our MVP will focus on air-conditioners as a start.

Product summary
To assist homeowners in selecting the most cost-effective air-conditioners while being environmentally friendly, we have built an Aircon Recommender based on key purchase considerations shared by our target user group: striking an optimal balance between cost effectiveness and wanting to do their part for sustainable living. The website simplifies the decision-making process for users by honing down to key factors, such as household size, usage frequency, installation location, and budget. It also educates users about "energy efficiency" - what would otherwise be a rather abstract concept - in a meaningful, personal way during the selection process.