Our Story

Saving Energy, Saving the Planet

The 2022/23 First Lego League season challenge asks teams to explore energy usage. In the words of FLL, most of us take it for granted that we can "fill up on energy" anytime and anywhere. But how is our energy actually generated, stored, distributed and consumed? Will we always have enough energy available? What can the future of energy production and consumption look like? That is what the 2022/23 season is about.
Understanding that scientists and engineers around the world continue to work to find better methods to create, store and utilize energy, our team decided to focus on energy conservation. Because no matter how energy is created, the world always seems to need more and more. Our project focuses on trying to influence the largest users of energy to find ways to reduce their usage or use it more efficiently.
Our research shows that the manufacturing industry is the largest global consumer of energy. Manufacturers produce billions of items each year to keep up with consumer demand, and it takes energy to make it all. In order to make significant changes in the total usage of worldwide energy, you have to address the manufacturing industry as a whole. But how?
We plan to do it through consumer education and consumer sovereignty. This principle holds that the preferences and demands of consumers should guide the decisions made by businesses and the allocation of resources in the economy. In this way, consumers have a significant impact on the functioning of the market and the economy as a whole. So, if consumers show a preference for products that are created with less energy, manufacturers will follow and find ways to use less energy. Our project seeks to educate consumers about the amount of energy required to make the products they buy and help them influence global energy consumption through their purchasing decisions. Decisions that save energy and save the planet.

Mission

Our mission is to educate and empower consumers to make informed purchasing decisions that reduce the global energy consumption of the manufacturing industry.

Vision

Our vision is to create a world where every consumer is informed about the energy required to produce the products they use every day and has the power to make informed purchasing decisions that positively impact global energy consumption. We believe that by educating consumers about energy usage in the manufacturing industry, we can empower them to drive change towards a more sustainable future. Our goal is to see a shift in the market towards products that are created with less energy, ultimately reducing the demand for energy and saving our planet.

Our Process

Our creative procedure is based on the engineering design process.

Ask- This years FLL theme is addressing global challenges related to ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all.
Research- We each came up with what area of the problem we wanted to address and a possible solution for the team to tackle together.
Imagine- We all voted on the best of the presented ideas and then we brainstormed on how that idea could be implemented.
Plan- We reached out to industry experts who helped us narrow down what our project could realistically accomplish.
Create- For our project we consulted both a graphic designer and a web designer to help us create our prototype.
Test- We continue to reach out to companies to ask them to supply us with the information we will need to calculate our UEL number.
Improve- We have already made some improvements. For example, we narrowed down the information displayed on the label and on the website to make it more user friendly.

Industry Experts

In our research using google and other internet based sources, we were able to find a variety of information like the stats on how much energy is used by the manufacturing industry and the governmental regulations currently in place to help curb energy use- like Energy Star and the Energy Label. But our most helpful resource by far has been our guest speakers. We have reached out and spoken to at least 7 different experts in their industry to help us work out and refine our solution.

Tre Zimmerman came over and teach us about the economy and the basics of entrepreneurship.
Rachel Wolman spoke to us about marketing and making our idea more user friendly. She explained the idea of Consumer Sovereignty and helped us simplify our label.
Yuri Rodriguez worked with us on the design and functionality of our label.
Miriam Savage helped us streamline our website and make it user friendly.
James Ring helped us work out the details on our fUEL formula and helped us understand the complexity of the math needed to formulate our number.
Michael Homs from Florida Crystals was able to provide us with actual numbers regarding the manufacturing efficiency in the sugar industry.
Bradley Solyan, the chief of staff for Congresswoman Lois Frankel, spoke with us about the challenges we would face trying to get the label government mandated and provided some alternative solutions to getting our idea up and running
We are currently scheduled to speak with Dr. Kyle Niemeyer from the Department of Energy, who we hope will provide some insight into other governmental programs that we could tie into for our solution.

Create and Iterate

We created a prototype of our label to give a realistic example of our solution. We changed the label many times not only in regard to color, QR code placement, letter and number sizing but more importantly the actual information displayed to the consumer. The formulas and calculations for the data on our label also changed as our understanding of the complexity of the mathematics grew. We worked with marketing experts and graphic designers to come up with a clear and simple product that is easy to understand.

We created a website where the QR code on the label takes consumers to find out more information on the product. Initially, there was a lot of information that we wanted to include in the actual label. But the experts told us to “Keep it simple” as the average consumer will get confused if too much information is provided without context. The website solved this issue for us. Now consumers that want more details can scan the code and they are taken to that products information page.

Initial Design

This was our initial thought process.

Getting Closer

This was our first official design.

Almost There

This had to be changed, because the Q.R code was too small.

Communicate

Presentation: We knew we wanted to do a skit performance as our presentation. We felt that this was the best way to express our creativity and show the audience a realistic application of our label in use. Using a skit also let us show the audience how we came up with our solution by incorporating the backflash scenes.

We are very proud of the fact that we were able to incorporate the Twilight Zone theme because just like the Twilight Zone show from the 60’s presented revolutionary ideas and forced people to think outside the box, our solution has the potential to revolutionize the manufacturing industry and change consumer buying habits forever. It just took some outside of the box thinking on a system that is already in use- the Energy Label.

Guest Speakers: We have shared our ideas with guest speakers who are experts in the industry of entrepreneurship, marketing, design, and web creation/application, mathematics and product manufactures.

Internet based surveys: We created surveys which we posted on the Share and Learn site hoping to get relevant feedback regarding our out of the box and unique idea.

Public Service Announcement (PSA): We also created a video PSA with the help of the Wellington City Council. This 2-minute infomercial can be shared through all media as a basic overview of our solution.