The Cleantech challenge

Transcription

1 The Cleantech challenge A student competition to lead us towards a green future

2 The cleantech challenge Challenge outline Students are invited to take part in the exciting green challenge designing green solutions to help our communities live more sustainable and low carbon lives. Scientists have been documenting clear signs that our planet is warming, and that human influence is the dominant factor for this change in climate. The signs are clear: the highest amounts of greenhouse gases have been recorded in our atmosphere, we have the highest global sea and surface temperatures on record, extremes in rain and snow amounts, and rising sea levels. Every city is experiencing unique impacts of climate change. Action needs to be taken, and we must plan for a low carbon future if we are to even begin gaining some control on the cause and effects of climate change. Students choose ONE challenge from the five category options provided in this pack. Students must come up with exciting, innovative, and unique solutions for the challenge of their choice.

3 The rules Students must enter the competition in groups (4-6 people) Multiple groups for the same schools can enter but only 1 group per school can get into the final The competition is open to high schools year 7-11, ages Challenge guidelines Every group must provide: A diagram or drawing of your innovative solution A clear case for why your solution is needed, what problem it exactly addresses, and the benefits and positives of it this can be in the format of presentation slides or A3 posters An example of where you can pilot your project or solution An exciting visual display of your project and the key components to include. This can be in the form of an A3 poster, booklet anything else you think appropriate You should consider: What are the costs of your project or product? Who could you work with or partner with? How can you make the public accept and want to use the solution you have created? Encouraged but not essential: A physical model of you solution Contact details To sign up or ask any questions, please contact our Cleantech East coordinator Imogen Shipperlee at ishipperlee@hethelinnovation.com or

4 Challenge timeline 3 rd September Challenge launched 31 st October Sign up deadline contact Cleantech East 1 st November Challenge packs distributed. Choose a challenge and let us know! 2019 Continued support from Cleantech East 1 ST February Deadline for challenge submissions Send your submissions digitally. If you have any models, take photos. February Cleantech East review of entries 22 nd February Finalists announced 13 th march Exhibition of finalists solutions to panel of judges and presentation of awards at Hethel Engineering Centre

5 ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY Background: East Anglia s average rainfall is one-third less than the rest of England, and demand is growing along side population increase. Water pipe leakage is also a key issue. There are many different ways you could solve the problem of water scarcity in the East of England and in that there are many different ideas. You could go for something as simple as a scheme in which people showered less or if you wanted to make it more complicated you could go for a new invention such as graphene sieves. Pipe leakages are a big problem. However, there are many options in how to find leaks such as using radioisotopes or leak noise monitoring. The Challenge: How can we reduce water scarcity in the East of England? Your idea could be a scheme, technology or a new invention. Things to consider: If you are making an idea to reduce water scarcity, you should consider: How can you encourage councils or businesses to use your innovation or innovative scheme? How will you manufacture your product/ implement your scheme? How will you implement your innovative storage solution for use in the surrounding regions and beyond? Will people pay extra for this idea? Would people trust your idea and would they use it? Is your idea sustainable? Solution provider Syrinix An example of an innovative solution to reduce water waste in an already water scarce region has been created by Norfolk Based company Syrinix. Syrinix uses intelligent pipeline monitoring solutions to predict water pipe leaks before they happen. To do this, they use sensors to monitor pipelines where a crack, blockage or are of high pressure is forming. Their technology also provides real time data about pipelines to improve utilities across the globe.

6 Clean energy Background: The East of England energy zone is unrivalled in the UK for its unique mix of wind power, gas, and nuclear energy production. The coast around Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth is at the centre of the world s largest offshore wind market. However, with all this renewable energy being generated, there are issues surrounding our ability to store it. The Challenge: How can we store renewable energy in the East of England? Create a storage solution for renewable energy created on the coast. Things to consider: If you are making a storage solution for renewable energy, you should consider: How can you encourage the government or local councils to use your innovation? How can you manufacture this idea? How will you implement your innovative storage solution for use in the surrounding regions and beyond? Would people trust the use of your solution? Is your idea sustainable? How much space would your solution take up? What solution is best suited to the geography of the East Anglia? Example innovation pumped hydroelectric storage Pumped Hydroelectric storage facilities store energy in the form of water in an upper reservoir. During periods of high electricity demand, power is generated by releasing stored water through turbines. During periods of low demand, the upper reservoir is recharged by using lower-cost electricity from the grid to pump water back to the reservoir.

7 Built environment Background: Smart and connected technologies are being increasingly incorporated into urban environments, and the creation of smart cities can be seen across the world, from Beijing, China to Utrecht, Netherlands. There are many ways you can make an area smart such as using smart traffic lights to direct flows of traffic or monitoring buses, so you know exactly when they will come to a stop, and pollution levels can be monitored. Smart tech is not only used in transportation. It can be used to power street lights with solar panels, incorporate the use of CCTV into communities to reduce crime, and to support local social care activities. There is the wide use of CCTV to prevent crime and using smart energy like powering street lamps with solar panels. However, since you are designing a smart village, not a city, you must consider what would be best for the community and the population dynamic there. Typically, ideas of smart cities are becoming much more popular. But, because Norfolk and Suffolk has 48.5% of people living in rural areas, effort must be made to ensure smart tech is accessible to all communities to those in our towns and villages, as well as our cities. The Challenge: How can we make our communities more sustainable? Design and create your own smart village or town. Things to consider: If you are designing a smart village, you should consider: How can you encourage the government or local councils to implement strategies for smart village development? How will you integrate smart tech into a smart village? What benefits will your smart tech solutions bring? What will your smart village look like? How connected will your smart village be? How will you get local communities on board with smart village development? How will you improve villages sustainability? Solution provider enlight Enlight develops and implements technology that transforms lighting infrastructure into an energy efficient and low maintenance asset, creating a flexible wireless connectivity platform. Street lights are retrofitted with Enlight technology which improves energy efficiency by 50%, and through the use of sensors, can monitor the environment and be used in social care. Street lighting presents a highly efficient, commercial opportunity to achieve true Smart Urban status as lights are easily reused for a city-, town- or village-wide sensory network.

8 Low carbon vehicles Background: With government plans to ban the sale of new diesel and petrol cars from 2040, creating alternative, low carbon transport methods is becoming increasingly important. Currently there are increasing numbers of low carbon vehicles being developed - many of them electric, such as the Nissan Leaf or the Tesla Model S. However, there are many alternatives when creating a low carbon vehicle they don t just have to be electrical, it can be powered by biofuels or hydrogen. So think about other ways you can design a vehicle to be low-carbon and more environmentally friendly. Remember, vehicles aren t just cars, so think about other modes of transport that you can make ecofriendly think trains, planes, bikes, drones or even create a new mode of transport altogether. This challenge is very open so try and be creative! The Challenge: How can we integrate the use of low carbon vehicles into our society? Design and create your own low-carbon vehicle. Things to consider: If you are making a Low carbon Vehicle, you should consider: How can you encourage people to use the vehicle? How will you manufacture this vehicle? What are the components of this vehicle? What makes it low carbon and sustainable? How will you get your low carbon vehicle produced nationally or globally? Will people pay extra for this vehicle? Will people trust this vehicle? How will your vehicle reduce emissions? Solution provider skytran Skytran is a concept developed to reduce the number of cars on our roads. The self-driving monorail will hover above roads, traveling up to155mph. It will be the first public transport system that is as personal as a car, using predictive artificial intelligence to get you from A to B. The first ever track will be launched in Lagos, Nigeria, where some of the worst traffic jams in the world exist due to its island-locked financial hub and exponential population growth.

9 Advanced materials Background: Many new materials are being created to combat the fact that plastic, though widely used, is not biodegradable. This causes approximately 5,000 items of marine plastic pollution to be found per mile of beach in the UK. Another way to solve the problem is to make use of a scheme which will clean up our oceans and streets. A good example of this is a deposit return scheme for plastic bottles or the UK wide 5p tax on plastic bags. There are many different ideas here such as banning disposable cups or being able to fill up bottles at the supermarket instead of buying new ones. On the other hand, you could introduce a new recycling method. For example, creating a new use for plastics e.g. in building material. The Challenge: How can we reduce plastic waste in the East of England? Create a solution to reduce plastic waste and its prevalence in our coastline. Your idea could be a scheme, a technology or a new material. Things to consider: If you are making your own new material or considering using one above, you should consider: How can you encourage people to use the product? How will you manufacture the product? How can you ensure your product is widely implemented? Will people pay extra for the product? Would people trust your product? Is your product sustainable? If you are developing a new scheme, think about: How will you convince the public or government to support your solution How will you implement your solution throughout the UK Would the public and business owners agree with your solution? Solution provider cambond Cambond has developed a plant based resin with a range of biomass fibres and polymers to make CAMPOSITE, a planet friendly alternative to plastics. This development has led to the company becoming one of the regional winners of the Shell Springboard programme a competition run by the oil giant to encourage low carbon innovation and the development of new low-carbon products and services.

10 Contact details To sign up or ask any questions, please contact our Cleantech East coordinator Imogen Shipperlee at or