CleanWeb Hackathon Brings Its Disruptive Energy to New York

There's no question that the energy infrastructure is ripe for disruption. Outmoded, inefficient systems and distribution, and an entitlement mindset has ruled the day in the utility industry for decades.

Enter the CleanWeb Hackathon. Its founders propose to apply information technology to resource constraints, building apps and hacks that combine new, sustainable business models and leverage the mobile and social web.

For 24 hours this weekend in New York attendees will tackle utility, transport, and smart grid datasets and see what they can "hack" out of them.

The first CleanWeb Hackathon, held last September in San Francisco, generated such ideas as Dr. Wattson, which helps you sleuth-out energy plan savings, GroMunity, an online community for sharing and trading home garden crops, helping out neighbors, and ridding your community of food waste, and Toxicslayar, a mobile app that shows toxic chemical releases from thousands of US facilities.

Not many of these ideas survived past the weekend incubator, but the concept of applying the innovation of the web and mobile technologies to energy, transportation, and smart grid is a good one.

Sunil Paul of Spring Ventures, the brainchild behind the CleanWeb Hackathon, describes the concept as marrying information technology with green initiatives.

"Information technology is actually going to prove as valuable as the application of new materials and nano-technology and bio-technology have been for the environment," Paul told an audience last year.

It's not just about apps, however. Other examples of CleanWeb innovations include sharing services such as AirBnB, ZipCar, Spride, and even NeighborGoods, which all help reduce an individual's consumption of resources and impact on the planet.

Now CleanWeb comes to New York and taps into the tech ecosystem here -- 24 hours in the city that never sleeps should yield some innovative ideas.

For more information about the CleanWeb Hackathon or to register to attend, go to CleanWeb Hackathon.

Whole Foods Highlights Creative Solutions to Earth's Pressing Problems

By 2050, the earth will support roughly 9.3 billion people; but creative visionaries around the world are doing their part to secure future access to water, energy, food and living space.

In 1981, Canadian potter Burt Cohen hand-formed a ceramic water filter with local, low-cost materials. Today, the open source model is being used to purify water in over 13 countries, and is expanding its presence worldwide. And, in an effort to eliminate dilution as a water cleaning method, Oregon engineer Mark Owen combined nanotechnology and sunlight to create a low-impact filter that kills contaminants at the source.

Whole Foods is highlighting this and other sustainable innovations in an online series called "9.3," which profiles the radical ideas of creative conservationists. Check out the video:



First Solar was also featured in a recent episode on solar power innovations:



Great to see someone focusing attention on solutions and innovations.


(Disclosure: I hold a long position in First Solar, FSLR.)

It's About Time for a New Conversation About Energy Innovation

There's a new conversation happening around energy and it's about time.

Readers of The Green Skeptic know I am very interested in the question of how we can use good, old-fashioned American ingenuity to build an economy based on energy innovation, efficiency and manufacturing -- a new green economy.

Yesterday, a group of leading policy think tanks, including the American Enterprise Institute, Breakthrough Institute, Brookings, along with the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation hosted a day-long conference on how to spur energy innovation.

Much of what was discussed there echoes what we've been saying here on The Green Skeptic: we need to focus on stimulating innovation. I also believe that such innovation can't just be focused on future, wish-list technologies, but the practical, real-world solutions of today.

This means an inclusive approach that identifies ways to use fossil fuels more efficiently and in a less environmentally damaging way, as well as increasing the efficiency of alternative energy technologies, the smart grid, storage, and demand management.

While I couldn't attend the event, there has been much written about it by several of the participants and organizers:

Here's Rob Atkinson, Ted Nordhaus, and Michael Shellenberger of Breakthrough Institute writing in advance of the event: Breakthrough

Marc Gunther of Fortune and The Energy Collective: Gunther

And Andy Revkin of the New York Times: Dot Earth

When it gets down to it, the critical question is how can we meet the predicted ten-fold increase in global energy demand in a way that is environmentally benign or even regenerative, while recognizing that fossil fuels will be with us for some time to come?

I'm encouraged that this conversation is starting. We can't afford to wait any longer.

Related articles

• ""Post-Partisan Power" - Report Overview" and related posts (thebreakthrough.org)
• Think tanks' post-partisan energy plan (politico.com)
• "Grand Bargain" of Clean Energy Research Feels More Like Lip Service (news.firedoglake.com)
• Real-World Steps on Energy and CO2 (dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com)
• Pursuing an Energy Menu That Works for the Long Haul (dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com)
• How to Change the Global Energy Conversation (online.wsj.com)