Clean Energy Challenge Brings Out the Best of the Midwest

The 2016 Clean Energy Trust Challenge has ended, and the winners have been announced for the annual Midwest U.S. competition. 

With up to $1 million on the line, the challenge touts itself as the largest single-day clean energy pitch competition in the country – responsible for helping more than 80 start-up companies find their footing in the clean energy sector.

Among the 14 finalists were four student track teams who put their engineering skills to work in designing clean energy solutions for use around the globe. Two of these university student teams won big in this year’s competition.

By controlling the spread of ethylene gas through an EPA-approved inhibitor system, their FruitBrite capsule aims to eliminate food wastage by extending the shelf life of fruits and vegetables in fresh produce counters by up to two to four times.

With their big win at the CET Challenge, we can expect to see a lot more of Hazel Technologies in the near future. Congratulations to their team.

A social enterprise with a global vision, NovoMoto is aiming to provide power to communities in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 

In a country where 59 million people use expensive and potentially harmful kerosene to light their homes, NovoMoto is working to provide an efficient and sustainable power grid using its MicroPlant technology. 

By connecting a battery control unit and software to solar panels, local partners are able to reliably deliver electricity to communities that would otherwise be left in the dark.

A start-up based out of Case Western Reserve University in Ohio, for this year’s competition CrystalE built upon their challenge entry from 2015 where they produced sensor nodes used in building energy management systems.

When networked together, these sensors can provide information about the building’s energy efficiency to a central computer. This year’s entry has made note of the energy use of the sensor nodes themselves, which generally run on batteries. Rather than replacing these batteries annually, the new sensors are piezoelectric, and use small amounts of vibration found on some surfaces to power them.

While some may fear a technological singularity where robots will rise up against us, INjoo Networks has put an AI to work monitoring and handling energy management in real estate investment trusts. By monitoring network use and access, their AI can determine the energy requirements of a building without requiring additional sensors or hardware. It will determine when a room is occupied and can efficiently adjust heating or cooling requirements for occupants – as long as you stay on its good side.

There were 10 other organizations in the final running for this year’s prizes, ranging from those working in machining and industry to efficient ride sharing. All are committed to finding new ways of bringing energy efficient, sustainable technologies into society.

With $1 million in potential funding coming from sponsors of the challenge, there is strong incentive for engineers from the Midwest to work towards a greener future. We look forward to seeing what next year’s challenge inspires in these companies, and hope this year’s list of winners are able to make a difference in the clean energy sector.

For more information on the Challenge and winners, visit Clean Energy Trust.