About Powering Agriculture
Powering Agriculture: An Energy Grand Challenge for Development supports the development and deployment of clean energy innovations that increase agriculture productivity and stimulate low carbon economic growth in the agriculture sector of developing countries to help end extreme poverty and extreme hunger.
Leasing models for baby clothes, pedestrian and bike-friendly streets in a bustling Indian city, and solar-charging hearing aids are just some of the innovations shortlisted for the 2015 Sustainia Award.
What are the coolest sustainability innovations we’ve seen this year? Think tank Sustainia this week revealed the 10 contenders for the award, which honours groundbreaking sustainability solutions from all over the world.
The Finalists
- Buildings finalist: Archiblox (Australia) - energy-positive prefabricated houses.
- Food finalist: SunCulture (US) - solar-powered drip irrigation for smallholders.
- Fashion finalist: Vigga.us (Denmark) - leasing organic kids-wear.
- Transportation finalist: Corporation of Chennai, Institute for Transportation & Development Policy and Chennai City Connect Foundation (India) - designing streets for walking and biking.
- IT finalist: Mapdwell, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US) - 3D solar potential mapping tool.
- Education finalist: Seoul Metropolitan Government (South Korea) - citizen engagement for voluntary behaviour change.
- Energy finalist: Mobisol (Germany) - micro-financed off-grid solar power.
- Health finalist: Solar Ear (Brazil) - solar-powered hearing aids with open source design.
- Cities finalist: City of Johannesburg (South Africa) - green bonds finance city climate action.
- Resources finalist: Plastic Bank (Canada) - turning plastic waste into a currency.
Winners to Be Announced at COP21
Former Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger will lead Sustainia’s Award Committee, comprising a judging panel of sustainability heavyweights.
There’s also a people’s choice award. Voting is open now for the public’s favourite innovation. The winner will receive the Sustainia Community Award.
Both winners will be announced during COP21 in Paris, at the Sustainia Award Ceremony on 6 December, 2015. World Climate Ltd will join in hosting the event, which will bring together innovators and performers from around the world to celebrate solutions for a sustainable tomorrow.
With the newly ratified Sustainable Development Goals and the negotiations for a binding new climate agreement at COP21, these 10 sustainability solutions show how we can shift talk into action today. The innovations are already available, and will become even more important as the world is increasingly defined by climate change – no matter the outcome of COP21.
Farmers using the RainMaker solar-powered water pump can irrigate, support livestock, and even cook and clean. They also cut 17 hours of hauling water out of their workweek. Says one farmer: “I have water all the time. Even during the dry season I can plant crops as I wait for the rains to come.”
Futurepump and SunCulture are part of an exciting group of companies making farming more connected and tech-centered in rural Kenya. Innovation, coupled with reliable IT infrastructure, has broadened the reach of new technologies into the countryside, solving everyday problems for rural families.
EDF will share its experience selling and installing off-grid solutions for residential customers and its knowledge of Central and West African markets."We’re excited, as this partnership gives us the opportunity to work with EDF to increase rural productivity,” said SunCulture's Samir Ibrahim.
