Fire and Water
Teams in the SDG7 (Energy) and SDG6 (Water) tracks have dynamite solutions for some of the world’s biggest problems
SHENZHEN, CHINA — Air pollution in India, responsible for thousands of deaths annually. Safer farming practices in Pakistan, which will protect thousands more from getting preventable illnesses. Making clean energy available and affordable in Rwanda. Making complex science data more comprehensible for legislators to act on.
These are just some of the ideas being developed at UNLEASH 2019 in the SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) and SDG7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) tracks.
As UNLEASH teams across all 10 tracks headed into the final stretch of the pitching process yesterday, ideas were coming into sharp focus at the SDG6 and SDG7 venues, both in the Futian District.
At the Shenzhen Energy Group, in a beautiful high-rise, teams worked in a slick, urban setting with views of the Ping An International Finance Centre building — at 117 floors, the tallest building in Shenzhen and the fourth-tallest in the world. While teams were finalizing their pitches, they were entertained by the (truly incredible) pianist Chen Hao and an orchestra, performing everything from classical pieces to Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance.”
“The quality of the ideas is very good,” said Natascha Hermsen, Lead Facilitator for the Energy track. “And what’s great about having UNLEASH in Shenzhen is the capability of teams going out to the innovation available here with an idea and quickly being able to have a prototype made. One team is out right now getting a low-cost solar system made, which can create light in areas where they don’t have access to electricity.”
Across Futian at the Shenzhen Water Group, teams had a downtown vibe, with outdoor meeting spaces, and a beautiful view of a full moon rising over the city, as well as a pedestrian bridge to the city center laden with bougainvillea.
What follows are some snapshot profiles of teams at both venues (note that many teams were furiously buys finishing their pitches and understandably did not have time to chat!).
SDG6 WATER SOLUTIONS
- TEAM NAME: Yield Aid
- COUNTRY OF FOCUS: Peru
- PROBLEM: Avocado farmers can lose 30% of their profits using too much water, which also has a negative impact on the environment.
- SOLUTION: Yield Aid is creating an app that connects Peruvian avocado farmers with sustainable farming solutions to water efficiency, including irrigation technology.
- TEAM NAME: Red Tasky
- COUNTRY OF FOCUS: India
- PROBLEM: Women in Maharashtra do not have access to sustainable sanitary pads.
- SOLUTION: Red Tasky will provide a sustainable supply chain for menstrual products in the form of a mobile station, which will provide raw material for women to make & sell reusable pads themselves. It will also involve men, to break the taboo associated with menstruation.
- TEAM NAME: GreeNu
- COUNTRY OF FOCUS: Pakistan
- PROBLEM: Of the 700,000 farmers in Faisalabad, many irrigate their crops with waste water, leading to negative health outcomes for them (10% suffer double the health problems of average farmers).
- SOLUTION: GreeNu employs education to incentivize the farmers to utilize sanitary farming practices.
SDG7 ENERGY SOLUTIONS
- TEAM NAME: KlimaKazee
- COUNTRY OF FOCUS: United States
- PROBLEM: Fossil-fuel companies know they must transition to renewables, but don’t have confidence that shareholders will back these efforts.
- SOLUTION: KlimaKazee will use VR to take doubters through climate trauma — hurricanes, wildfires, floods — creating a sensory experience that clearly dictates the business-case necessity of investing and transitioning to climate-friendly renewable sources.
TEAM NAME: FIZUP
- COUNTRY OF FOCUS: India
- PROBLEM: Air pollution in Delhi is the cause of death for 30,000 annually. The negative air quality is 19 times higher than WHO’s safe maximum. Up to 60% of that air pollution comes from farmers burning excess crops.
- SOLUTION: FIZUP will incentivize farmers to avoid burning crops by selling carbon credits to responsible corporations.
TEAM NAME: Power Rangers
- COUNTRY OF FOCUS: Rwanda
- PROBLEM: In Rwanda, many households use unclean sources for power. These households cannot always afford cleaner sources.
- SOLUTION: Power Rangers will create a clean-gas bank, that through credit-based micro-leasing, will change behavior and provide cheaper fuel for households.
TEAM NAME: Tomorrow Matters
- COUNTRY OF FOCUS: Argentina
- PROBLEM: Many critical documents and studies of climate science is too complex for legislators to comprehend, limiting their ability to take substantive action.
- SOLUTION: Tomorrow Matters takes complex science evidence (like the IPCC report) & makes it comprehensible for policy makers. Science policy briefs made simple. The team is first looking to implement in Argentina, where parliament is actively seeking such help.
TEAM NAME: é mazik
- COUNTRY OF FOCUS: India
- PROBLEM: India’s reliance on coal has created suffocating air pollution. Solar power is an alternative, but a barrier there is land acquisition.
- SOLUTION: é mazik will offer a platform that automatically evaluates land use & suggests plots with the highest probabilities of solar success.
TEAM NAME: Impacto
- COUNTRY OF FOCUS: Kenya or Malawi
- PROBLEM: Renewable-energy developers & investors want to connect but the former often lack the expertise to put together due-diligence documents that the latter need.
- SOLUTION: Impacto will standardize the process, allowing developers to focus on producing the energy their consumers in East Africa need.
TEAM NAME: Pawa Plug
- COUNTRY OF FOCUS: South Africa
- PROBLEM: Consumers want to save money and use less energy, but they don’t always know how.
- SOLUTION: Pawa Plug will create an app that utilizes behavior-change principles to help consumers save energy and money. The app can be used to turn appliances on and off remotely, and will send them info about peak times to do so.
