Singapore launched its Climate Innovation Challenge 2016, which involved a 36-hour hackathon to promote innovative, cost-effective green solutions that safeguard the city-state’s environment.
Singapore challenges you to a carbon-off
Open to all eco-preneurs and tech wizards interested combating the climate crises the contestants focused on solving a range of challenges with prizes of up to $5,000 for grabs.
The challenges were:
- Encouraging building tenants to reduce energy use and increase sustainability by designing a technology-based solution that is user-friendly, facilitates fuss-free, cost-effective energy management and encourages building users to make behavioral adjustments towards saving energy
- Using Big Data to improve operations and maintenance of green buildings by designing a technology-based solution to make it easier for facility managers to identify key areas in optimizing building efficiency, taking into account the day-to-day challenges of managing a building
- Managing outdoor spaces by designing a technology-based solution that enhances the experiences of people using green spaces. The solution also needs to facilitate the maintenance, monitoring and overall management of the outdoor spaces
- Creating a Zero-carbon district by providing a technology-based solution to improve resource efficiency, including energy and water, at a district-level, to lower Singapore’s carbon emissions and create zero-carbon districts
The take-out
The latest apps may be ones that solve our climate crises.
*Robert C. Brears is the author of Urban Water Security (Wiley). Urban Water Security argues that, with climate change and rapid urbanization, cities need to transition from supply-side to demand-side management to achieve urban water security.
