Deadline: 28-Feb-22
The 2021-22 Efficiency for Access Design Challenge is inviting teams of university students to create affordable, high-performing off-grid appliances and enabling technologies to provide sustainable energy for all, they urgently need to enhance the efficiency and affordability of high performing appliances.
The Efficiency for Access Design Challenge is a global, multi-disciplinary competition that empowers teams of university students to help accelerate clean energy access.
The Efficiency for Access Design Challenge is an opportunity for you to work at the forefront of energy access. You will be required to design affordable and super-efficient appliances that can be used in an offgrid context, e.g. powered by a solar home system or a mini-grid.
You will work on solutions in countries with the lowest rates of electrification and who critically need energy access. Focusing on Sustainable Development Goal 7 – Affordable and Clean Energy, please give special attention to communities with the lowest levels of energy access. Access to clean energy and other basic services is closely correlated with a country’s position on the Human Development Index.
The Challenge starts with a kick-off workshop at each university and includes a series of webinars, mentoring by experts in the sector and a prototype fund application call.
The focus is on energy consumption and the appliance’s primary source of energy should be electricity (DC – Direct Current). The appliance should directly connect to a solar home system or a standalone DC mini-grid. You are not allowed to design an AC appliance, which connects to an inverter. Energy generation is also out of scope.
Themes
- Agriculture: Over a quarter of global employment is in agriculture, but many farmers lack energy access. Smallholder farmers who engage in manual agriculture experience inconsistent, weather-dependent yields compared to farmers with access to energy and agricultural appliances. From incubating eggs to milling grain, solar-powered agricultural appliances can help improve productivity for farmers living in off-grid areas.
- Cooking: The IEA reports that 2.6 billion people currently cook with polluting fuels such as kerosene, coal or biomass, in poorly ventilated areas. Of those 2.6 billion, around 2.5 million people a year die prematurely from illness attributable to household air pollution. Manufacturers in the off-grid sector have designed super-efficient cook stoves, but cooking appliances could be more affordable, efficient and respectful of traditional cooking methods.
- Refrigeration: Refrigeration provides a wide range of benefits from improving health and productivity, to reducing domestic labour for women and children responsible for food preparation. It also enables income generating activities through the cold storage of drinks, food, and other perishable items for later sale
- Space Cooling: Beyond basic comfort and productivity, access to cooling solutions such fans can help enhance well-being and reduce mortality and morbidity during severe heat waves. Fans are in high demand among off-grid consumers, but mainstream fans still consume as much as 10 times the amount of electricity compared to lighting in the same setting.
- Power Management: The high cost of batteries is a significant barrier to the uptake of appliances in off grid settings. Distributors often oversize them to ensure a constant and consistent supply of electricity to large appliances like fridges. This then leads to an increase cost and reduction in efficiency. Improved power management can help reduce the size of batteries required, making larger appliances more affordable for people.
- Information and Communications Technologies (ICT): ICT are essential to how they communicate and interact with each other and society. The COVID-19 pandemic made this increasingly clear, which led to further discussions in many countries on whether access to the Internet is a human right. The ICT sector remains a key driver of innovation, accounting for the largest share of OECD business expenditure on research and development and for over 1/3 of total patent applications worldwide
- Healthcare: Safe and adequate environmental conditions in health care facilities are essential to protect and improve the health of patients, staff, visitors, and the wider community. These include the availability of water, sanitation, hygiene, energy and waste management, as well as personal protective equipment.
When does it take place?
- The Efficiency for Access Design Challenge starts in September 2021 and ends with the Grand Final in June 2022. The timing of the Challenge is flexible, so universities can include the competition in existing curriculum and course structures.
- Universities decide whether to schedule the project to run over multiple terms or condense the participation period.
- They anticipate that students will receive credit for participation. T
- he Efficiency for Access Design Challenge team is available to help universities embed the competition in existing curricula.
Eligible Countries
- There will be 18 universities participating from Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Nigeria, Uganda, Pakistan, Sweden and the UK.
What are the Reviewing and Judging Panels looking for?
- Innovation How does your design compare and improve on solutions that are currently available to your target end-user?
- Sustainability How does your design contribute to a positive impact on the environment?
- Social impact What difference does your design make to people’s lives?
- Scalability How feasible is it that your design could get to market at scale?
For more information, visit https://efficiencyforaccess.org/efficiency-for-access-design-challenge
