The three MIT Portugal Sustainable Energy Systems PhD Students at Instituto Dom Luiz developed the idea of a sun umbrella capable of storing solar energy, through a series of photovoltaic cells on its surface and a battery.
The Lisbon Green Hackathon took place on the 12th and 13th of March and is an all night long marathon in which teams of up to four participants must come up with, develop, program and build a prototype for something that will hopefully make the world a greener place.
The idea of a solar umbrella withthe ability to store solar energy was considered the most innovative proposal in the competition. The device will allow users to charge their electronic devices (mobile phones, tablets, cameras, etc.) while enjoying a day outside and knowing that they are contributing to the decrease of their ecological footprint. In addition of protecting its users from the sun, the umbrella named CumuluSolar, manages through a set of sensors to monitor and provide, in real time, information regarding the consumption of the equipment. How to access this data? Each umbrella has a QR Code that allows instant access to a web page that displays this information
The Lisbon Green Hackathon is part of an international initiative that defies students and teachers, schools and universities to promote the use of cutting-edge technology to shape tomorrow into something more sustainable .