Intel challenges universities

By Staff Writer for Intel
Johannesburg, 19 Apr 2007

Intel has challenged EMEA universities to find creative ways to 're-fuel' laptops on sustainable energy.

However, although institutions from all over EMEA have been invited to participate, and several European schools have enrolled, local universities are slow in taking up the challenge, says Delia Griggs, country marketing manager at Intel.

The company says the time is right to focus on environmental challenges and to utilise available resources in an efficient manner. It adds that Europe has been driving the environmental agenda worldwide, campaigning in favour of responsible environmental policies.

According to Euractive.com, European leaders agreed in March 2007 to have 20% of their overall energy needs covered by renewable sources such as biomass, hydro, wind and solar by 2020. Intel intends to encourage young generations to take an interest in technology and its positive applications.

The challenge

The company is inviting the EMEA seats of learning to devise ingenious and eco-friendly ways to recharge laptop batteries. The target will be to fuel a laptop for a full hour by using renewable energy sources.

The laptops used in the experiment will be high-performance ones based on the dual-core Intel Core 2 Duo processor, that the company says is specifically designed to use energy efficiently.

Intel says the challenge will unfold over the next six months - with the final submissions expected in October. The university with the winning solution will be awarded funding, in terms of assets, to support scientific research.

Christian Morales, VP and GM of Intel in EMEA, says the company wanted to encourage EMEA's brightest minds to come up with creative solutions based on alternative sustainable energy sources to extend laptop users' working time even further.

Universities can contact Markus Weingartner at Markus.weingartner@intel.com for further information.