A group of four UG students have reached the 2013 final RWE npower's Energy Challenge. The 'Green Team' consisted of team captain Tom Houiller (3rd year Mechanical Engineering), Nupura Gothoskar (4th year Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering), Dan Connor (4th year Physics) and Khrystyna Chelak (4th year German and Business).

The Energy Challenge involved the Green Team presenting a solution to the question 'How can energy providers engage more positively with customers?' to a panel of top executives from npower at The Royal Institution in London.

Their proposal was to develop a smartphone app that encourages domestic customers to better monitor and regulate their energy usage, by providing them with real-time and historical information about their energy usage and costs (using data provided by the upcoming smart metering technology).

The app integrates a social element, letting people compare their energy usage with other customers in their neighbourhood or in the country, engage in npower competitions or rank themselves on social networks such as Facebook. Other products/services that npower provides will also be clearly visible on the app - to promote customer engagement with npower's energy efficiency products, for example.