b'Member News November 2022 23Solving societal challengesYoung professionals are solving societal challenges through virtual competitionsThe Young Professionals Committee (YPC) and staff team have been hard at work this year to give young engineersGlobal hackathonand technicians from all over the world the opportunityIn a first for the IET, this global to help solve some of our key societal challenges. 24-hour hackathon took place on Saturday, 24 September #PresentIn10 and asked teams of young For the second year running, this virtual presentationengineers and technicians to skills competition asked engineers and technicianscome up with a solution to between the ages of 18-35 to give a 10-minutetackle dirty data. presentation about a technical topic. This topic had toWhat is dirty data? Reports suggest the carbon footprint of fall under one of the three IET societal challenge themes: our gadgets, the internet and the essential systems supportingSustainability The competition started in July,them account for 3.7% of global greenhouse emissionson par with the airline industry. And, shockingly, these emissions are and climate and winners have tackled diversepredicted to double by 2025.change issues like the creation of a smartDigital futures tampon to reduce risk of toxicSolutions the teams came up with included the mechanicalHealthy lives shock syndrome, ways to recognisearchitecture of a clever cooling solution for data centres, and reduce bias within AI softwareuser-friendly software that helps companies manage their data and how we can make engineeringconsumption and software that raises awareness of dirty data practices more sustainable. among social media users.Both competitions will see the winners crowned at the Young Professionals Summit on 12 November. Keep an eye on the IETs social media channels to find out who won!Sparking change at Futures Place IET members and volunteers within the Built IT equipment will plug intoand industry players including USB-C sockets and luminairesSchneider and ARUP. When Environment Panel have been innovating thecomplete, the DC zone will be have been specified to work refurbishment at the new IET office, Futures Place.with direct current. a state-of-the-art showcase for renewably-powered work Futures Place has beenIn a radical future-readyingThe innovation stems fromand living spaces. The data augmented to allow the use ofmove, a portion of the panelsresearch conducted by theand user feedback will build renewable electricity direct tonow bypass orthodox invertersBuilt Environment Panel whichon the existing publications, IT and lighting equipment fromwhich change DC electricityengages volunteers to advocateDC Code of Practice and photo-voltaic panels on the roof. into standard AC (mains)for more sustainable buildings.Practical Considerations, electricity. ThisIET volunteers, Chris Mollerspearheaded by outgoing means thatfrom Evonet and Allan BurnsBuilt Environment Panel electricity fromfrom Telemental, prevailedChair, Blane Judd.the solar panelsupon IET executives to use theWhen efficacy and economy can be usedrefurbishment to showcasehave been proven, DC without wastefulcutting-edge technologyinnovations may be extended transformationdeveloped with Schneidersto other zones and systems into alternatingDutch-based DC systems. including electric vehicles current. Therebeing used for power. The will be no needThe DC zone project hasteam hopes to celebrate for transformersbrought together staff,success with a DC cup of tea in the DC zonevolunteers, project managersbrewed on site, very soon.'