FINALISTS
Entrant: SunFunder
The Concept: Crowdfunding platform to finance off-grid solar projects in developing countries.
The Need: Over 1.3 billion people lack access to electricity, while many people want to help fund clean energy projects in developing nations but don’t have an easy social media channel to connect with projects.
Features:
Entrants: Volunteer team established at EcoHackSF hackathon; includes programmers from Google and Climate Corporation and economics PhD students from UC Berkeley
The Concept: Uses principles of behavioral economics to motivate users to shift their electricity use to off-peak hours, when the electricity source is cleaner (e.g. wind and hydro vs. coal and gas).
The Need: In 2010, 25 TWh of wind was wasted—worth over $500 million—because it was produced at a time when there was low electricity demand (Kraemer).
Features:
App Name: yerdle Instant Share
Entrant: yerdle
The Concept: Instant Share will make sharing via Facebook as simple as One-Click Ordering from Amazon.com.
The Need: Yerdle has found that members can find 20% of what they’re searching to buy in their Facebook friend network for free, saving money and environmental resources.
Features:
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Entrants: Sean Connor and Matt Solt
The Concept: ApartOf helps residents of apartments, condominiums, and other multi-tenant facilities install a solar energy system with no upfront costs and share the power produced, saving money and creating more environmentally friendly communities.
The Need: In the CA residential sector alone, there are 4.2 million housing units in multi-tenant buildings, creating a potential market of 422 MW, equivalent to $1.2 billion.
Features:
Entrant: Adapt Commercial Ltd
The Concept: FaceOff is a crowd-sourced demand response tool that uses the Facebook platform to trigger requests for users to switch off their appliances.
The Need: Conventional grid balancing is expensive and wasteful. Standby power must be maintained as a backup, which is very carbon intensive. Utilities value highly the ability to reduce load during peak times.
Features:
Entrant: GreenVote
The Concept: GreenVote is a crowdsourcing platform that makes infrastructure more efficient. Building managers get real-time feedback from occupants to optimize the building environment and conserve energy.
The Need: Buildings account for 20% of global CO2 emissions. Real-time feedback has 10-56% energy savings potential. Many building occupants experience uncomfortable temperatures or lighting levels.
Features:
Entrant: Green Mountain Boys
The Concept: Radius helps make these environmental issues more personal and actionable by showing how users’ friends are affected and suggesting actions for the users to take.
The Need: Currently, when people learn of environmental issues, they are unable to learn who from their network is impacted, relate directly to the experience, or determine which actions they should take, resulting in apathy and inaction.
Features:
App Name: RideScout
Entrant: RideScout
The Concept: RideScout is a ground transportation aggregator which integrates seamlessly with other transportation apps to give users real-time information on all ride options, including buses, trains, taxis, and car shares.
The Need: People want to use alternative transportation, yet find it inconvenient. Primary RideScout research shows that 7 out of 10 people in an urban area tried to use alternative modes of transportation but found that the landscape was too confusing, so gave up and used their cars instead.
Features:
App Name: Simple Energy Mobile Platform Application
Entrant: Simple Energy
The Concept: Simple Energy’s integrated Facebook platform uses past and current energy usage data to create a normalized baseline for each user so that they can then compare their usage with their friends and earn rewards.
The Need: Energy usage has become “back of mind” for most consumers. On average, Americans spend 6 minutes per year interacting with their utility (Accenture). Energy efficiency is one of the most effective ways to reduce carbon emissions.
Features:
Entrant: Jennifer Gai
The Concept: Tesser integrates with Facebook to create an interface between companies and users who share the common goal of promoting sustainable consumerism, and reduced environmental impact through informed product and service design. Tesser creates a platform for a two-way dialogue between corporation and end-user and a social platform for sharing this dialogue widely.
The Need: The conversation between companies and users is too often a one-way dialogue. Tesser creates a more interactive and productive dialogue on important issues.
Features:
Anchor Partners
Technical Supporter
Cleantech Goes Social Winner!
Top 3 Finalists
7 Honorable Mentions
The deadline for entering Cleantech Goes Social has passed. For the press release announcing the finalists and honorable mentions click here!