LAUNCH successfully executed two challenges focused on water and health. The next global challenge focused on energy. LAUNCH and its partners believe that sustaining quality of life requires transformative advances in energy science and technology, along with new models, programs and behaviors. The LAUNCH: Energy Forum, which brought together innovators and council members, took place at the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida on November 11-13, 2011.
LAUNCH: ENERGY CHALLENGE STATEMENT
The goal of the LAUNCH: Energy Challenge is to identify 10 “game changing” innovations that have the potential to transform current energy systems, and help support a more sustainable future. This Challenge seeks to identify entrepreneurial efforts focused on the development of innovative products, services, and programs that can benefit from an association with influential government and business leaders to accelerate their deployment and adoption in both the developed and developing worlds.
With increasing global population growth and increasing energy demand, the world needs more energy. Energy systems in the developed world are designed to deliver cheap, reliable and accessible energy, but fulfilling increasing demand through current practices risks serious environmental sustainability consequences over the long term. In the developing world, over 1.4 billion people lack access to electricity and nearly 3 billion individuals rely on traditional solid fuels, especially biomass, for heating and cooking, while the combustion of these fuels leads to nearly 2 million deaths each year.
Can we leverage renewable and distributed sources of energy that utilize small, local and intelligent technology to generate and store energy? Can we provide equitable and affordable access to energy resources across the developed and developing worlds?
LAUNCH invites proposals for innovative energy technologies, as well as energy- focused education, business, and financial strategies that have the potential to provide energy at a household, community, commercial, or industrial levels. These Distributed Generation and MicroGrid systems and/or stand-alone technologies should have the potential to transform energy generation and delivery but require new technologies, business models, and deployment programs to scale effectively.
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