Singapore Frontier Challenge (Champion)
Cloud Nine

Singapore Frontier Challenge was organised by the NUS Physics Society, in collaboration with Singapore Power (SP) Group. The inaugural competition aimed to involve tertiary students from diverse disciplines by encouraging them to develop innovative solutions to pressing environmental issues faced by Singapore. The competition drew over 100 participants from various local universities.

After visiting the electrical substations and interacting with engineering from SP, my team identified that there was a huge waste of electricity during the evening and untapped source of potential energy in the form of rain. My team conceptualised the idea of collecting rainwater and using the excess electricity in the evening to pump water to the top of high-rise buildings. When energy is required, gravitational potential energy is harvested as water falls from the top of the building to the ground. This is especially relevant in Singapore with a large population of tall buildings. My team prototyped and showed that this can be done by retrofitting water pipes in these buildings with hydro-generator mechanism.

My team eventually emerged champion with a prize of 5000 SGD.