September 22 2008 / by jvarden
Category: Environment Year: 2008 Month: Sep Rating: 7 Hot
“If we can really understand the problem, the answer will come out of it, because the answer is not separate from the problem.” – Jiddu Krishnamurti
“The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew.” – Abraham Lincoln.
Grand Challenges can be defined as fundamental problems in need of solutions. An Energy Grand Challenge is indeed what its name implies – a competition to be challenged and won in regard to energy use, sustainability, cost, and efficiency.
Multiple teams enter as candidates to reach the goal, whether it is a certain level of fuel efficiency, carbon dioxide removal, or future energy solutions. The winner receives a prize, usually in the form of a generously large sum of money. But the Challenge’s impact, however, is not only on the team that wins the grand prize, but the technology that springs from the research, which can expand its positive influence to affect the world.
While there are innumerable Energy Grand Challenges occurring at any given time, here are a handful of them, accompanied by a brief description:
- Progressive Automotive X: $10 million prize for clean and efficient vehicles
- Zayed Future Energy: $1.5 million grand prize for innovative future energy solutions
- Virgin Earth: $25 million for greenhouse gas removal
- ConocoPhillips Energy: $300,000 for improving energy efficiency, developing new energy resources, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions
- GE International: $750,000+ for energy conversion, reduced energy use, new energy sources, and energy efficiency
- DTE Clean Energy Prize: $100,000 to be divided among the winners for developing plans to make clean energy marketable
Be sure to stay tuned to The Energy Roadmap this week as we more closely examine each of the above challenges. And let us know of any others that you’d like us yo add to the list!
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