IIT NECA Chapter Takes 2nd in the NECA National Green Energy Competition

The IIT NECA Student Chapter won second place in the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) Green Energy Competition held in Las Vegas on September 13 - 16, 2019 (Iowa got first place and University of Toronto got third place). There are about 35 NECA chapters in the United States and Canada and about half these chapters compete in the national competition by submitting a complex energy audit proposal of a building. The top three finalists then give a presentation to a panel of judges at the national conference.

Six IIT NECA student chapter members attended the conference under the guidance of advisor Dr. Dan Tomal (adjunct professor in Industrial Technology and Management). They were
Ryan Schonken (Architecture), Michael Hickey (Industrial Technology and Management), Michael O’Brien (Industrial Technology and Management), Nicole Amon (Mechanical Engineering), Jaslyn Otero (Architecture Engineering), and Gaoshua (Myka) Chang (Architecture Engineering).

The IIT NECA chapter captured second in the video completion (Wayne State won first place and Iowa State won third place). IIT also won third place for the proposal submission. For the competition the IIT NECA team conducted an energy audit of Provident Hospital, Chicago. This energy audit was part of the spring and fall 2019 IPRO project. The IPRO and Green Energy Challenge were sponsored by the Electrical Contractors’ Association of City of Chicago.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for our university chapter to gain out-of-class experience and at the national level,” said Dr Tomal. He also gave a presentation on the new IIT Smart Tech lab at the NECA national council meeting. The Green Energy Challenge is an annual event the IIT NECA Chapter plans to enter the 2020 competition as part of the spring IPRO 410 project. The national competition will be held in Chicago.

Additional information in the NECA news: https://www.necanet.org/about-us/news/news-release-archive/news/2019/09/16/iowa-state-university-receives-top-honors-sixth-year-running-in-neca-electri-green-energy-challenge