Global Cleantech Opens Ideas Competition
Making the world clean and green, one idea at a time.
The Cleantech Open Global Ideas competition is a hunt for the most promising clean technology ideas anywhere in the world. One national winner from each country will then compete, in November, against the winners from other countries at the global finals in California.
This is your chance to join a major national project that can really make a dif¬ference.
The Cleantech Open is more than just a fun competition, more than just cool technology, more than just smart entrepreneurship.
Together, we’ll find, fund and foster the most promising cleantech ideas in the world – ideas that address today’s most challenging economic, environmental and energy challenges.
We’re looking for anything from revolutionary ways to generate clean energy, to better ways to filter water, to ideas about how government policies on climate change can foster new businesses.
And we’re not just looking for good ideas – we’re looking for concepts and technologies that can become great businesses that will reward entrepreneurship and bolster your country’s economy.
Signing up for the Ideas Competition
Contestants register through this easy, three-step process at:
www.cleantechopen.com/ideas/enter
Ideas Competition Categories
Each idea needs to fit into one of these six categories:
1. Air Water & Waste – Ways to cut pollution
Entries focus on improving resource availability, conservation and pollution control. Air covers services, instruments and equipment related to emission control, treatment or reduction technolo¬gies. Also included are creative approaches to greenhouse gas reduction, such as carbon conver¬sion and sequestration. Water covers treatment, storage, monitoring, recycling and conservation technologies. Waste covers waste management equipment; sorting; resource recovery processes; pollution prevention, control and treatment technology; and, waste reduction through innovative recycling processes and the creation of new recyclable materials such as bio-based plastics.
Examples:
• Storm-water, flood control and rainwater harvesting
• Smart irrigation
• Water filtration and disinfection
• Advanced filters and filtration (air or water)
• Carbon and GHG monitoring and control
• Carbon capture sequestration and storage
• Waste cleanup and remediation
2. Energy Efficiency – More efficient methods and devices
Entries include technologies that can significantly reduce wasted energy and help lessen the need for additional power plants.
Examples:
• Industrial process improvements
• Natural gas monitoring and control (industrial or residential)
• LED lighting
• Advanced lighting controls
• HVAC (Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning) solutions
• Natural gas controls
• Smart/User-friendly energy management systems
3. Renewable Energy – Replacements for fossil fuels
This category includes innovations that use, enable and accelerate the migration to renewable energy. Renewables encompass technologies that use waste streams to directly produce energy.
Examples:
• Thin film solar manufacture
• Concentrating solar photovoltaic
• Bio-based fuels
• Hydropower
• Advanced fluid-flow designs
• Wind power technologies
4. Green Building – New kinds of buildings or materials
Reducing the environmental impact of building construction or operation through improved de¬sign or construction practices, new or innovative use of building materials and new hardware or software applications is the goal of this category. Technologies are applied directly to the built environment.
Examples:
• Insulation materials
• Cement alternatives
• Indoor air filtration systems
• Disaster relief and modular housing
• Low VOC carpeting and flooring
• Water saving toilets, showers and plumbing
• Recycled materials for use in building material
5. Smart Power, Green Grid, Energy Storage – Better ways of carrying/storing electricity
This category encourages creating links between information technologies and electricity delivery that give industrial, commercial and residential consumers greater control over when and how their energy is delivered and used. It includes improvements in all forms of energy storage, from battery technology for consumer-scale products to chemical, metal, biological or other approaches to storage of utility-scale energy, as well as methods for controlling or in¬creasing the efficiency of energy storage or energy transmission.
Examples:
• Wireless metering and use of real-time pricing information
• Network architecture for power management
• Hydrogen storage
• Battery form factor improvements
• Advanced fuel cell membranes
• Power storage
• Transmission efficiency
6. Transportation – Greener cars, buses, trucks or planes
This category encompasses transportation and mobile technology applications that improve fuel efficiency, reduce air pollution, reduce oil consumption or reduce vehicle travel (not limited to automobiles). Technologies are applied directly to transportation systems or vehicles.
Examples:
• Fleet and route management systems
• Logistics management
• Carpooling solutions
• All electric vehicles
• Flex fuel engines and applications
• Drivetrain conversion kits
