Community News

2016 Climate CoLab Winners Announced!

Share

 

In February 2016, the Climate CoLab opened over a dozen contests on key challenges in addressing climate change. Nearly 500 proposals were submitted to the platform, and evaluated by expert Judges, who then selected 136 Semi-Finalists. Authors had a chance to revise their proposals with the Judges’ feedback before entering a second round of evaluation, where 60 proposals were selected as Finalists, and opened for a public vote.  In July, the Climate CoLab community grew to over 75,000 members, who cast over 16,000 votes to select the contests’ Popular Choice winners.

You can meet and interact with both the Judges’ Choice and Popular Choice winners as they attend and present their work at MIT Climate CoLab’s Crowds & Climate Conference, September 28 & 29, on the MIT campus, where the $10,000 Grand Prize will be announced. Crowds & Climate will take place during HUBweek, a week-long city-wide festival celebrating innovation in the Boston area.

We are proud to announce the winners and Judges’ Special Commendations for Impact and Novelty for 2016. Please join us in extending a hearty congratulations to them!  
 

2016 Results 

 

All submitted proposals are now displayed on each contest homepage, with the contest Winners, Finalists, and Semi-Finalists recognized.

Adaptation

Judges’ Choice Winner
Hudson River Sustainable Shorelines Project / Sustainable Shores
Sustainable Shorelines generates info about best shoreline management options preserving ecology through adapting to climate change impacts.

Popular Choice Winner
Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation Strategies for Property and Community /  Climate.IQ
Climate.IQ is a web tool that uses spatial and statistical analysis to conduct climate risk assessmennt for properties and communities.
_____________

Special Commendations: 

Impact
Build reefs to sustain oceans’ adaptation to a warmer world /  DO CLIMA

Novelty
Unleashing the climate-smart potential of Africa’s forgotten rice /  sririce

 

Aviation

Run in collaboration with MIT Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment

Judges’ Choice Winner and Popular Choice Winner (At Large)* 
Strategic Investment to Scale-up Aviation Biofuel / sunny1990 & vmthomas1
Focusing heavy investments from China to ramp up sustainable biofuel production can bring global costs down.

Popular Choice Winner
Cross Flow Air Turbine (CFAT) Auxiliary Power Unit / AirMach Innovations
Zero fuel Zero Emission replacement technology for aircraft’s Auxiliary Power Units (APUs).
_____________

Special Commendations: 

Impact 
Strategic Investment to Scale-up Aviation Biofuel / sunny1990 & vmthomas1

Novelty 
Cross Flow Air Turbine (CFAT) Auxiliary Power Unit / AirMach Innovations

 

Buildings

Judges’ Choice Winner
Cooperative Building /  Kaenga
Let’s build more sustainable buildings by empowering people to design their homes and shape their communities.

Popular Choice Winner
Cooperative Building /  Kaenga
Let’s build more sustainable buildings by empowering people to design their homes and shape their communities.

Popular Choice Winner (At Large) *
RentRocket.org – Bringing transparent energy data to rental housing markets /  RentRocket.org
If we want to reverse climate change, we have to reach people who don’t think about it. Let’s make climate-friendly housing decisions easy.
_____________

Special Commendations:

Impact
Naturally heated homes for colder and poorer regions of the world /  Javed Sultan

Novelty
Naturally heated homes for colder and poorer regions of the world /  Javed Sultan

Energy Supply

Judges’ Choice Winner
Franchised Microgrids for the Developing World Based on Open Source Components /  jlgula
Deploy microgrids to the developing world using a franchise business model based on open source hardware to reduce cost.

Popular Choice Winner
The Collective Power Platform /  roelofsmichiel nikodem.bienia
The Collective Power Platform is a local peer to peer energy trading market for and by prosumers.
_____________

Special Commendations:

Impact
Faciliating Adaptation to Climate Change through Solar Irrigation Technology / Tareo 

Novelty
Insulator Slow Cooker Bags /  marole

Energy-Water Nexus

Judges’ Choice Winner
Infrastructure for a Livable Future /  CRWA
Community Water and Energy Centers produce reliable, renewable and resilient energy and clean water while restoring the natural environment.

Popular Choice Winner
Infrastructure for a Livable Future /  CRWA
Community Water and Energy Centers produce reliable, renewable and resilient energy and clean water while restoring the natural environment.
_____________

Special Commendations: 

Impact
Infrastructure for a Livable Future /  CRWA

Novelty 
Distilled Water From Combusted Fossil Fuel /  Sidel Systems USA

 

Improving Firewood for Clean Cookstoves

Run in collaboration with Patrimonio Natural and Minka-Dev

Judges’ Choice Winner 
Dry firewood needs seasoning, covered storage and a drying chimney /  climaterescue
After careful seasoning and storing, use a simple drying chimney for firewood. Next generation cookstoves can also be carbon-positive!

Popular Choice Winner
Smokeless gas cylinder stove with wood drier / saadithya
Modifying old unused gas cylinder into a smokeless stove for cooking, heat radiated while using it is used for drying wood.

 

Industry

Judges’ Choice Winner 
25ºC (77ºF) /  Kiri
Regulate industry globally so all new air conditioners have a minimum of 25ºC(77ºF). Reset existing equipment to comply this new standard.

Popular Choice Winner
25ºC (77ºF) /  Kiri
Regulate industry globally so all new air conditioners have a minimum of 25ºC(77ºF). Reset existing equipment to comply this new standard.
_____________

Special Commendations: 

Impact
25ºC (77ºF) /  Kiri

Novelty
Solar Steam /  sunflower

 

Land Use: Agriculture, Forestry, Livestock

Judges’ Choice Winner 
Reducing methane emissions from rice farming / ClimateRe
Reducing Methane Emission While Enhancing Rice Farmers’ Resilience to Climate Change

Popular Choice Winner
Vertical and Micro-gardening(VMG) climate smart farming in Uganda /  PaulCastor
VMG is a CSA approach that uses the Vertical farming technology to convert 9 square feet into 36 square feet of farming space.
_____________

Special Commendations: 

Impact 
Preservation + restoration of blue carbon ecosystems require immediate attention /  MoorooducRH

Novelty (tie)
Honey Bees = Polination = crops = food Pollination = Photosynthesis = lower C02 /  Kelvin Valley Honey

Novelty (tie)
Green Cambridge Street Tree Biochar Pilot Study /  Green Cambridge

 

Materials Matter

Run in collaboration with Nike, INC

Judges’ Choice Winner
Empowering designers roles in using better sustainable material options /  Team Wonder
Sourceseed is a curated alternative material option platform that allows designers to co-buy fabrics with eachother at an affordable price.

Popular Choice Winner
Empowering designers roles in using better sustainable material options /  Team Wonder
Sourceseed is a curated alternative material option platform that allows designers to co-buy fabrics with eachother at an affordable price.
_____________

Special Commendations:

Impact 
Empowering designers roles in using better sustainable material options /  Team Wonder

Novelty 
Boro /  Danny and Friends

 

MIT Climate Mitigation Solutions

Run in collaboration with MIT Office of Sustainability

Judges’ Choice Winner
100% Net Zero Carbon Plan, 60% NZ Effectively Free, Expert Team Ready! /  Net Zero Foundation
100% Net Zero Carbon for all Buildings. MIT 60-80% NZ for free! #DivestTheCampus — Join the #NetZeroMovement to save the Planet!

Popular Choice Winner
Building Cooling and Heating, with Solar Robotic Concentrated Thermal Collectors /  Lighthouse Group
It is economically and practically feasible, to substitute 60% of the energy we use for cooling and heating our buildings with solar energy.
_____________

Special Commendations:

Impact
Minimizing HVAC Energy Use Through Low-cost Software-based Airflow Optimization /  mgevelber and 2 others

 

Shifting Behavior for a Changing Climate

Judges’ Choice Winner
DearTomorrow, a promise to the future about climate change /  deartomorrow.org
To shift behavior and broaden the climate culture, we invite people to send open letters about climate change to loved ones in the future.

Popular Choice Winner
What is climate change and what do I have to do with it? /  ENGAJAMUNDO
We seek to empower young Brazilians by showing them that we are part of the solution to overcome current problems caused by climate change.

_____________

Special Commendations: 

Impact
Low Carbon City Initiative: From Citizens To the World /  Low Carbon City Team

Novelty
Climatecoin 2016 /  Dennis Peterson

 

Smart Zero Carbon Cities Challenge

Run in collaboration with INRS University

Judges’ Choice Winner
Interactive Business Energy and Emissions Dashboard for Cities /  Climate Smart
Create a dashboard that allows cities to understand their business emissions by sector, business size, emissions source, and track progress

Popular Choice Winner
My Energy Xpert: a home and small business energy management solution /  energyX Solutions
My Energy Xpert is a SMART energy audit and monitoring app empowering people to save time, money and lower their energy footprint.

Popular Choice Winner (At Large) *
Interactive Business Energy and Emissions Dashboard for Cities /  Climate Smart
Create a dashboard that allows cities to understand their business emissions by sector, business size, emissions source, and track progress
_____________

Special Commendations: 

Impact
My Energy Xpert: a home and small business energy management solution /  energyX Solutions

Novelty
Interactive Business Energy and Emissions Dashboard for Cities /  Climate Smart

 

Transportation

Judges’ Choice Winner
Mini Elevated cTrains (caterpillar trains) /  terrautopia
A comprehensive solution-mass transit for all: MINI ELEVATED cTrains: seating room only – minimal height-width-length – visibly acceptable.

Popular Choice Winner
Mini Elevated cTrains (caterpillar trains) /  terrautopia
A comprehensive solution-mass transit for all: MINI ELEVATED cTrains: seating room only – minimal height-width-length – visibly acceptable.

 

Waste Management

Judges’ Choice Winner 
Recykle | A smart phone app to manage household waste responsibly /  Kabadiwalla Connect
Develop a smart phone app that helps people segregate, compost, find their closest kabadiwalla and sign-up for local waste management events

Popular Choice Winner 
Conscious textile reverse Logistics /  Retalhar
Retalhar is a social business that promotes reverse logistics of corporate uniforms by disposing it in a socio-environmental friendly way.

Popular Choice Winner (At Large) *
Recykle | A smart phone app to manage household waste responsibly /  Kabadiwalla Connect
Develop a smart phone app that helps people segregate, compost, find their closest kabadiwalla and sign-up for local waste management events

_____________

Special Commendations: 

Impact
Food Recovery Network: Fighting Waste, Feeding People /  FoodRecoveryNetwork

Novelty
Tycycler: An intuitive, non-motorized & affordable tire recycling technology. /  Tycycler

 

*The Popular Choice (At Large) designation was given to proposals which received over 40% of the total valid votes cast in that contest, or were within 5% of the total valid vote count of the highest vote-getter for that contest.