We recently announced the start of our fifth annual Cisco Global Problem Solver Challenge, with prize cash totaling $1 million USD. The Cisco Global Issue Solver Challenge is really a competitors that awards money prizes to early-stage technologies entrepreneurs solving the planet’s most pushing environmental and social difficulties.

Increasing greenhouse fuel (GHG) concentrations within the Earth’s environment trap heat, drive upward global temperatures, and influence the Earth’s ecosystem. Despite several years of heightened presence, GHG concentrations remain properly above historical norms, today exceeding 415 components per million (ppm) in accordance with information recorded at the Mauna Loa Observatory. The rate of increase is accelerating. The nagging issue is both obtaining worse, and getting worse quicker.

During the last 15 years, many companies have taken care of immediately this environmental challenge by decreasing GHG emissions from their very own operations, products, and offer chains. Recently, businesses have introduced their intent to end up being carbon neutral; meaning the ongoing organization and its activities bring about no change within GHG concentrations within the Earth’s atmosphere. Similar conditions such as for example carbon zero, internet zero, carbon bad and carbon positive may also be used even.

Our have to reduce GHG emissions is worldwide and immense, spanning all national nations & most human endeavors. No-one solution can solve this type of broad problem. Advancement across several disciplines is necessary by large, multinational businesses, local startups, and person entrepreneurs. To encourage advancement from people and startups, Cisco offers a Greenhouse Gas Options Prize within the Cisco Global Issue Solver Challenge 2021.

This Greenhouse Gas Solutions Prize will undoubtedly be awarded to a team using technology to handle increasing GHG emissions in the Earth’s atmosphere. The champion of the prize will undoubtedly be awarded $50,000 USD-in add-on to any prize a united team may win-to accelerate the further development of these solution. There are several types of options within the scope of the Greenhouse Gas Options Prize, and illustrations are provided below:

1. Reductions within GHG emissions released throughout a product or process lifestyle cycle

Our Cisco Global Issue Solver Problem 2020 Grand Prize champion, Savanna Circuit Tech, incorporated this first approach to their winning solution. Although Savanna Circuit Tech addresses post-harvest losses across worth chains primarily, their solution carries a mobile, solar-driven milk chiller. This chiller reduces GHG emissions that might be released by traditional refrigeration technology powered by fossil fuels otherwise.

Our 2019 Grand Prize winner, Oorja, replaced diesel motors with pay-as-you-move, community, solar pumps to supply more affordable irrigation within rural India. Co-founder Clementine Chambon, Ph.D., shared, “Replacing diesel engines, making use of power as a catalyst for financial creation and advancement of jobs, and combating environment change-these will be the three core components of our mission.”

2. Immediate removal of GHG emissions from the environment

For most activities, it isn’t achievable release a zero GHG emissions, therefore solutions in this group would eliminate GHG emissions in the atmosphere currently. One example is really a Dendra Systems seed-planting drone for ecosystem restoration. The drone seeds trees that get rid of CO₂ from the surroundings using photosynthesis. Through the use of data science, artificial cleverness, and drone automation technologies, Dendra can accelerate and scale property rehabilitation.

Another thrilling GHG removal solution originates from Carbon Engineering, which works to fully capture CO₂ from the atmosphere using its Direct Air Catch technology directly. The technology pulls in extracts and air CO₂ by way of a group of chemical reactions.

3. Economic use of taken out emissions or byproducts

One GHG elimination solution reported within the literature involves converting industrial gases, like CO₂ emissions, into carbon-based nanomaterials, such as for example carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and carbon nanofibers. These brand new materials are used in a number of various high-tech applications then. South Africa-based Clean Carbon Technologies (CCT) areas carbon capture close to the way to obtain a factory’s CO₂ emissions. Gases are saved and collected in huge cylindrical containers, which are transported to a processing facility where in fact the gases are changed into carbon and CNTs nanofibers.

4. Implementation of currently proposed solutions (such as for example from Project Drawdown®)

Teams could also draw motivation from Project Drawdown, a nonprofit organization that seeks to avoid climate change by assisting the global entire world achieve “drawdown,” the point with time when degrees of GHG within the earth’s atmosphere cease rising and commence to decline. The Task Drawdown website and book describe more than 80 solutions which have been assessed by way of a team of professionals as you possibly can and scalable answers to GHG emissions. Revolutionary solutions to advance global execution of these solutions are invited.

We encourage creativeness in developing other revolutionary solutions that slow or even stop-or even invert- the upsurge in GHG concentrations in the Earth’s atmosphere. As the GHG issue is complex, submissions might use technology to create process infrastructure, educate, monitor improvement, or elsewhere build circumstances that facilitate consensus and understanding.

Interested? Connect with win!

If you have a forward thinking solution that you imagine could win the Cisco Global Issue Solver Challenge 2021 Greenhouse Gas Solutions Prize, please go to our website to join up and find out about the application procedure. January 29 the application form deadline will be, 2021, at 5 p.m. Pacific Standard Period.