Solar Decathlon Challenge
Course Goal:
The goal of the course is the ideation and development around the topic “Crowd Energy – living in the future”. There are three dimensions which will be investigated:

• Legal questions about the subjects of neighbourly collaboration, new technologies (e.g. smart metering), contracting and more
• Human Building Interaction. Development of interaction and visualisation technologies for the human-machine communication to improve awareness, handling and more
• Solving economic and social aspects of “Crowd Energy”, e.g. mental accounting, incentives, and more.

Course Description:
The EPFL, EIA Fribourg and UniFR are entering a team in the Solar Decathlon Challenge 2016 – a highly prestigious international competition – to design and build a fully operational solar powered house that solves difficult energy problems currently confronting society.  Would you like to be part of this ground breaking competition?
This challenge is about more than just building a better energy efficient house. It’s about rethinking and redefining the place we call home – how we work, eat, drink, shop, grow up, grow old, create communities, and above all, how we can thrive as a society in the future. This is a chance for you to wipe the slate clean and imagine a more sustainable form of urban life!
Anyone interested can join the team!
The UniFR will contribute in the field of legal, technological and economical aspects to solve the upcoming challenges. Furthermore, cooperation among those three disciplines will create new solutions to contribute in the decathlon but also to support the change within the energy sector.
A necessary contribution is expected from the today’s consumer. The future consumer will produce their electricity, will take responsibility, and will influence the network stability through decision making. A consumer will become a so called “prosumer”. Such a decentralised structure postulates a different management principal and shifts from a single energy supply to a neighbourly energy supply, also called “Crowd Energy”. Crowd Energy “is the collective effort of individuals or profit/non-profit organizations, or both, pooling their resources through online ICT-applications, to help implementing the energy turnaround. This implies both, the concept of decentralization (production, storage and consumption of renewable electricity) and a substantial change in society, economy and politics.”
Persons in charge:
Prof. Dr. Stephanie Teufel (Chair Management of Information and Communication Technology; international institute of management in technology)
Prof. Dr. Jean-Baptiste Zufferey (Institut du droit de la construction)
Dr. Denis Lalanne (Senior Researcher, Human Centered Interaction Science and Technology)
Mario Gstrein (Chair Management of Information and Communication Technology)

Contact: Mario Gstrein, mario.gstrein@unifr.ch
ECTS: 4.5
Hours per week: 3
Schedule:
Day: Thursday / Time: 9:15 - 12:00 / Frequency: weekly / Room: PER 21, F205
Language: English