The Climate Group has launched its first EarthHack competition powered by the Marblar platform, which asks competitors to reimagine existing technology for a more sustainable modern home and save one million tons of carbon dioxide a year by 2020.
EarthHack seeks to open up the doors of innovation to people from all backgrounds, nationalities and education, allowing them to take part in bringing about a low carbon future, Climate Group says. Submissions will explore potential solutions for a variety of different types of homes — from basic dwellings to towering apartment blocks — but all entries must reimagine latent technology to create or conserve energy.
“Nearly 30 percent of the world’s primary energy is used in residential buildings, which are therefore an excellent place to look for large energy savings,” said Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith, Director of Energy Research at Oxford University. “EarthHack will stimulate novel applications of existing technologies that will lower energy bills and decrease carbon emissions, thereby underwriting a better future for us and our descendants.”
The competition panel includes former Director General of CERN, current Director of Energy Research at Oxford University; Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith and the Cavendish Professor of Physics at Cambridge University, Sir Richard Friend; along with representatives from IKEA, Philips and other cleantech experts.
The competition’s winners will share in a prize pot of $25,000 and fly to New York City to receive their award during Climate Week NYC 2013. They also will work with thousands of thinkers across the globe to create brand new applications, work on a tested, global crowdsourcing platform and get valuable feedback from experts at IKEA and Philips on the business potential of their idea.
Sustainable innovation competitions abound around the world: In March, Ben & Jerry’s and Ashoka launched their second Join Our Core competition to find the most innovative young social entrepreneurs in Europe; this month, Virgin Money announced a £10,000 prize for sustainable business innovators through its "Start Something" competition; and last week, Fenugreen was voted the winner of the Sustainable Brands Innovation Open for its FreshPaper technology, which keeps produce fresh up to four times longer.
Get the latest insights, trends, and innovations to help position yourself at the forefront of sustainable business leadership—delivered straight to your inbox.
Founder & Principal Consultant, Hower Impact
Mike Hower is the founder of Hower Impact — a boutique consultancy delivering best-in-class strategic communication advisory and support for corporate sustainability, ESG and climate tech.
Published Jun 10, 2013 8pm EDT / 5pm PDT / 1am BST / 2am CEST