lx43
04-19-2011, 09:35 PM
What do you think of some of the ideas the X-Prize Foundation has for future prizes?
Although I really don't like the idea of spreading democracy, I wish they would change that to spreading constitutional stye republic. A democracy can be just tyrannical as dictatorship IMO.
http://www.xprize.org/prize-development/global-entrepreneurship
In Development
Autonomous Auto X PRIZE
More than six million automobile accidents happen annually in the United States resulting in around 2.9 million injuries and more than 40,000 deaths. This is the leading cause of death behind infant and elderly diseases. The financial cost of these crashes is more than $230 billion, or approximately eight cents/mile – more than the cost of gasoline for an efficient vehicle. An autonomous vehicle can dramatically increase automotive safety, reduce commuting time, and greatly reduce fuel consumption.
The Autonomous Auto X PRIZE is a $10 Million prize that will be awarded to the first team to design a passenger car that, through automation, is safer than today's passenger cars.
Plastic Debris X CHALLENGE
A large percentage of plastics currently end up in the ocean; currently, the ocean has more than 220 billion pounds of plastic debris. An estimated 11 billion pounds more are added each year. Analysis of the plastics producer value chain has revealed three areas of activity that producers have undertaken to manage concerns in the plastic lifecycle: i) Use less newly mined (virgin) raw materials, ii) Expand recycling capacity, and iii) Design environmentally-safe degradable products. While early efforts are promising, the breakthrough that can comprehensively manage the sustainable use of plastic has yet to be achieved. The winner of the Plastics Debris X CHALLENGE will be the team that creates a clear plastic container that is able to degrade in the temperature, salinity and UV environment of our oceans. The winning solution must be an environmentally-safe alternative to petroleum plastics at scalable volume.
Concepts Under Consideration
Aviation Battery (Lite/Heavy)
Batteries currently offer energy storage densities of 100’s of Whr/kg, more than two orders of magnitude smaller than liquid fuels. This highly limits the efficiency of any mobile application. New breakthroughs in lightweight batteries will enable longer lifetimes for consumer electronics and substantial improvements in electric vehicles. Using electric remote controlled helicopters, teams competing in the Aviation Battery competition will demonstrate annual improvements in energy storage density for either lite or heavy battery packs. Each team will provide a set size of batteries that will be used to power a standard electric remote controlled helicopter. The helicopter will be flown and recharged ten times, with the shortest flight time being their score. The winning team will demonstrate the greatest increase (at least 10%) in energy storage density over the previous year’s winner.
Carbon Utilization
We recycle aluminum, glass, paper, plastic, and yard waste – why not carbon? As of now, no company has successfully commercialized a carbon utilization technology. Current government funding is narrowly focused on ultra-expensive geologic sequestration, which treats carbon as a liability, with virtually no attention to utilization technologies, which treat carbon as an asset. A Carbon Utilization competition crosses political boundaries and environmental ideologies by finding profit in reducing emissions through technological solutions. The goal would be to develop radical new technologies that solve the global carbon challenge by recycling CO2 into brilliant new products. The winning team must create a system that cost-effectively transforms carbon emissions from coal-based power plants into beneficial products. This must be accomplished while maintaining energy producers’ ability to provide reliable cost-effective “base load” power to their customers, including those below the poverty level.
Electric Aviation
World aviation burns 200 million gallons of fuel each day - or about the volume of an Olympic-sized swimming pool every 5 minutes. A new class of all-electric aircraft would help minimize our dependence on fossil fuels. The Electric Aviation competition would an annual cross-country race rewarding breakthroughs in electric aviation. The winning team will be the one that beats the previous year’s best time by a set margin. The goal is to develop a new generation of fast, safe, long-endurance electric aircraft that will reduce noise and dependence on fossil fuels.
Energy Awareness
Most people are unaware of how their everyday actions and activities at home and work impact the environment. Increasing overall awareness of each individual’s energy use can be an effective way to gain greater support for energy initiatives. The winner of the Energy Awareness competition will be the first team to create a YouTube video and/or website that receives more than 50 million views or generates $2 million in revenue donated towards the X PRIZE Energy & Environment Prize Group. The video or website should be compelling, viral, and deliver a meaningful message on energy and environmental issues.
ePod/Home Energy Storage
Most utilities are paid for the amount of power they sell, providing little incentive for improvements in efficiency. An ePod device can lower peak energy needs, lessen pollution and increase access to renewable power generation; the device will also create greater resiliency to blackouts and brownouts.
The goal of the ePod/Home Energy Storage competition will be to build a home energy storage appliance (ePod) able to measure and understand the typical energy usage of a family as well as the energy cost from the local utility and be able to purchase off-peak energy and provide stored energy to the household during peak energy periods. The winning team must manufacture and deploy 100 units for the competition and demonstrate the ability to scale up to 25,000 units per year within two years. The units must be able to store a total of 5kWh and last at least four years.
Featherweight Solar
Most improvements in solar photovoltaic focus on incremental gains in panel efficiency, not materials or process improvements to reduce weight. This technology is a high risk investment, which is not attractive to the majority of investors, who would rather take the path of least resistance.
Teams competing in the Featherweight Solar competition will build a photovoltaic power module using 90% less mass, without sacrificing power output or cost per watt. The power module must demonstrate the same lifetime kWh output and same Watt peak output and produce the same power at an equivalent cost to similar sized units.
Featherweight Wind
Despite the ready availability of wind, only 2% of total world power needs are currently met by turbines. The successful completion of this prize will allow wind energy to make up a greater percentage of total world power sources. Teams competing in the Featherweight Wind competition will build a wind turbine using 90% less mass, without sacrificing power output or cost per watt. The wind turbines must demonstrate the same lifetime kWh output and same Watt peak output and produce the same power at an equivalent cost to current standards.
Race to Zero CO2
Personal mobility accounts for the most wasteful and, by extension, most environmentally degrading form of CO2 emissions. Current perception is that no market exists for a new class of personal mobility vehicles that, if implemented today, would result in a global vehicle fleet using renewable energy technologies. A Race to Zero CO2 would get the public excited about ultra-low CO2 emitting vehicles. The winner will be the first privately financed team that can circumnavigate the globe within 80 days with the least emissions of CO2. Land vehicles for the overland legs must be capable of transporting a minimum of two 200-pound adults, and must follow a predetermined route. Upon completion of the global circumnavigation, land vehicles will participate in a 200-mile sprint race, without modification to the circumnavigating vehicles.
Rapid Drilling
Geothermal is viewed as a major new source of renewable energy. However, existing drilling technologies are optimized for shallow oil/gas extraction, not deep geothermal needs, and can bear higher costs for the higher value products. A Rapid Drilling competition would increase investments in geothermal, thus greatly reducing the cost, time, and capability limitations of geothermal drilling. Upon selection of a target region of bedrock and specification on the diameter of the holes to be drilled, teams will compete by drilling three holes into the Earth – one after the other – to a depth of five kilometers, utilizing the same equipment and same crew. The winner of the competition will be the team that can complete the task the fastest.
Residential Waste to Power
In both the US and the developing world, economic constraints drive users strongly towards the cheapest solutions for energy, water and waste disposal, largely ignoring environmental and health concerns. Average home municipal waste bills are roughly $200/yr. If consumers could save half of that and reduce electricity bills by 10%, there could be a sizeable market for the deployment of household clean technology systems. Teams in the Residential Waste to Power competition will build, install and demonstrate a household system able to covert the biomass produced by a typical family of four into energy, greywater and other useful or environmentally neutral products. The winner will be the team that is able to operate a biomass conversion system over a 30 day trial period and demonstrate the greatest savings in energy and water compared to the cost of the system.
Robotic Mole
The successful completion of a Robotic Mole competition could result in the ability to tap into the zone of constant temperature just below the earth’s surface in order to provide dramatic improvements in both heating and cooling costs and environmental effects. Ground source energy sources could even be expanded to retrofit existing homes. Teams competing must develop a robotic “mole” that can safely burrow underground beneath existing structures and install the piping for a 4 ton ground source heat pump. The winning team will be determined by the underground depth the robot can reach, as well as the time and cost to excavate.
Solar Pavement
While nearly 3% of US land area is covered by pavement, it provides no benefit other than surface structure. A significant impact could be achieved if it were made to also produce power. The goal of the Solar Pavement competition will be to turn blacktop surfaces into photovoltaic power generation sources. The winner will be the first team to convert a one acre parking lot surface into a generator that can produce a peak power output of 50kW of solar energy.
Concepts Under Consideration
Asteroid Deflection
Thousands of Near Earth Objects (NEOs) exist, but worldwide efforts to catalogue and track these capture only a fraction of them. Historical impacts have had collision forces exceeding a nuclear bomb, causing massive destruction and climate change. While the likelihood of future events is not large, the ramifications could be devastating. Teams competing in the Asteroid Deflection competition will select a target asteroid at least 50 meters in length in an orbit that is not Earth-crossing. The teams must next predict how they will alter the path of the asteroid, causing a deviation in the asteroid’s path of one Earth diameter over a one-year period. The winner of the competition will be the team that then alters the path of that asteroid in a controlled fashion that is within 99.999% accuracy of the predicted path.
Beamed Power Propulsion
Nearly all launches to date have relied on chemical propulsion, carried on board the vehicle, and thereby sharply reducing payload mass fraction. Beamed power offers a radically alternative launch strategy. Payload launch costs to orbit will drop by a factor of 50 or more. The goal is to launch a 10 Kg payload to a 30Km altitude, deriving 100% of its energy from a ground-based beamed power system. The system must also be reusable and repeatable within 24 hours.
Crater Exploration
The recent discovery of water in the permanently shadowed craters on the moon opens massive potential opportunities for exploration, research and business development. This competition would provide a key hardware element for supporting lunar discovery, and would draw public attention to the opportunities presented by lunar water. Teams competing must build a robotic rover system that is capable of traversing to a mock crater ridge from 100 meters away using 100% solar energy. Teams must then explore the inside of the crater using the robotic rover, a sub-rover or deployed sensors.
Deep Human Submersible
We know more about the surface of Mars than the depths of the Earth’s seas, yet no vehicles currently exist for extended human operations at full ocean depths. Success in this competition will result in increased human access to the ocean depths for science and exploration, with substantially improved capabilities for both. The goal is to build and demonstrate a submersible system capable of carrying three people (or equivalent mass & volume) to the deepest ocean in a safe, useful, and repeatable fashion.
Electric Aviation
World aviation burns 200 million gallons of fuel each day - or about the volume of an Olympic-sized swimming pool every 5 minutes. A new class of all-electric aircraft would help minimize our dependence on fossil fuels. The Electric Aviation competition would an annual cross-country race rewarding breakthroughs in electric aviation. The winning team will be the one that beats the previous year’s best time by a set margin. The goal is to develop a new generation of fast, safe, long-endurance electric aircraft that will reduce noise and dependence on fossil fuels.
Lunar Lander
The hardware developed for the Apollo missions used 1960’s technologies, and a great deal of the institutional knowledge gained in that era has been lost. The demonstration of successful new technologies can bolster future lunar exploration, as well as support suborbital research and other markets. This competition would accelerate technologies needed for exploration beyond low earth orbit, and would support the early development of commercial solutions for this market. The goal would be to build a Lunar Lander that can fly for at least six minutes while carrying a 25 kg payload.
Ocean Explorer Platform
We currently know more about the surfaces of many extraterrestrial bodies than our own oceans, and have no effective platforms or sensors for improving that knowledge. This technology will leverage breakthroughs in energy storage, data processing, sensing and communications to bring state-of-the-art science back to the seas, thereby increasing our basic scientific literacy for climate models, biosphere analysis, and exploration. The result of an Ocean Explorer Platform competition would be the development of a small, low-power autonomous undersea vehicle that can derive three-dimensional maps of oceanographic data.
Ocean Floor Mapping
We lack high-resolution maps of nearly 75% of the planet’s surface. Improved knowledge of the ocean floor will improve exploration, navigation, basic geological discovery and economic development. The winning team must demonstrate a repeatable and scalable method to map a specified region of the ocean floor within a defined period of time. The mapping method must provide high-resolution images as well as thermal, current, and sample data.
Ocean pH Sensor
In this competition, teams will develop small, low-power sensors that focus on pH data acquisition to help improve the current models of climate change and broaden our knowledge of biosphere ecology. The winning team will be the one with the highest accuracy during a date-certain 3-month deployment. The competition will be staged in a site (<2,000m depth) that is both scientifically relevant and technically challenging.
Orbital Debris Removal
Millions of pieces of debris are currently orbiting Earth at altitudes that pose a danger to satellites and human spacecraft. The threat from such debris is predicted to rise 50% in the coming decade and quadruple in the next 50 years. Large object collisions are particularly dangerous, due to the ensuing creation of additional debris. Teams competing in the Orbital Debris competition must select a target piece of orbital debris and either de-orbit the debris or move the debris in a predicted and accurate fashion to a new orbit deemed non-threatening by a panel of expert judges. The first team to complete this task will be determined the winner.
Personal Electric Autonomous Air Transporter
Congestion is growing in ground transportation, which could be partially remedied by more fully utilizing 3-dimensional airspace. However, aircraft are currently available only for long-distance operations. Autonomy improves reaction time and accuracy, adding substantial benefits in terms of safety. The winner of the Personal Electric Autonomous Air Transporter competition will be the first team that is able to develop a vehicle that is 100% autonomous and able to carry 100 kg a distance of one kilometer, reaching a maximum altitude of 2,000 feet while maintaining a noise level of less than 72dB. The vehicle must repeat the flight in reverse without recharging or refueling, completing the round-trip in less than 10 minutes.
Reaction Engine
Current vehicles are limited to high efficiency either within or outside of the atmosphere. A reaction engine would allow for optimized operations in either environment, reducing the amount of onboard oxidizer needed during atmospheric flight. Success in this domain could enable higher efficiency rocket launches, as well as potentially lower the technical hurdles to hypersonic point-to-point vehicles. The winning team will be the first to demonstrate an engine able to operate both as a jet engine (using atmospheric oxygen) and as a rocket (using stored oxidizer).
Suborbital
Space research costs today are dominated by expensive launches, precluding many interested researchers, students and companies from engaging. This competition would bring on-line a new era of low cost suborbital rocket flight, which would be useful to academia and scientists. The first team to fly a reusable sub-orbital rocket above 200,000 feet three times in a three day period while carrying a 25 Kg scientific payload exposed to the ambient atmosphere for photographs or research will be determined the winner.
Wolfram Physics
Modern theories of physics lack computational rigor and feature both large gaps and a high degree of uncertainty. Dr. Stephen Wolfram has proposed a grand unified theory of physics which he will post in detail to a website. Teams competing in the Wolfram Physics competition will be asked to evaluate this theory and either formally reject it, or develop it into a fully completed theory with appropriate proofs.
In Development
Micronutrients X PRIZE
A staggering two billion people suffer from micronutrient deficiency—a lack of crucial vitamins and minerals that prevent brain damage, enhance neural development, and forestall disease. The Micronutrients X PRIZE will be awarded to the team that develops the supplementation and fortification methods to durably bind micronutrients such as iron to flour and/or staple foods. As a result of this prize, we can help save millions of lives and achieve hundreds of billions of dollars of economic impact.
Tuberculosis Diagnostics X PRIZE
The Tuberculosis Diagnostics X PRIZE is a competition to create a set of rapid, accurate, and easy-to-use, point-of-care diagnostics to eradicate tuberculosis in developing countries. Nearly two million deaths occur annually in 22 tuberculosis high-incident developing countries. The TB Diagnostics X PRIZE can help ensure that every TB patient has access to effective diagnosis, treatment, and cure, which will reduce the inequitable social and economic toll of TB.
Cookstoves X CHALLENGE
Each year nearly two million people die from utilizing ‘cook-stoves’ that incompletely burn their fuel, resulting in soot and carbon monoxide poisoning for the women and children in the home. Over two billion people globally use biomass cookstoves that often require hours of gathering sticks and other fuel. This competition will spur the development and adoption of an inexpensive non-toxic and efficient cook-stove that will help eliminate deaths caused by cook-stoves in the developing world.
Neurometrics Learning X CHALLENGE
The Neurometrics Learning X CHALLENGE is a competition to create a low cost, sufficiently accurate, and scalable method for measuring the way in which an individual learns best. The winning team will develop a method for measuring the Brain Learning Processes (i.e. attention, memory, processing speed, prediction, executive function, spatial skills etc.) that display the highest correlation to educational outcomes.
Concepts Under Consideration
2G Mobile Phone Education
It is estimated that more than 80% of the world will have access to 2G phones by 2013. This will offer a strong distribution platform for educational material, yet no mobile company has taken on the challenge of developing the software. The winning team of the 2G Mobile Phone Education competition must create a cell phone based “Education Program” that is easy to use by anyone with a 2G cell phone (text and voice). The system should use voice for delivering lessons or lectures and text for questions and testing. Educational content should include basic subjects such as literacy, agriculture, healthcare, and infant care, as well as education relating to the region of the world in which the technology is deployed.
African Entrepreneurship
This competition is designed to address the current poverty crisis in Africa through entrepreneurial job creation in areas that will both stimulate the economy and increase the standard of living throughout the continent. Entrepreneurship is critical to economic development, according to the UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development). While sound macroeconomic policies and providing market access are crucial, emerging markets need to nurture and develop entrepreneurs. The goal is to inspire African universities, companies, and incubators to generate in-country entrepreneurs and new jobs. Competing teams will consist of a variety of organizations, both academic and corporate, that will recruit and train entrepreneurs and incubate the new companies started by those entrepreneurs. The winning team will be the organization whose African-based ethical and socially beneficial companies employ the most qualified employees over a five year period.
Democracy
In a world of relatively secure ATMs that can handle complex transactions, blood is shed and nations are upended in disputes over the simple counting of votes. Providing a clean vote counting technology will be one step towards a solution. The winning team of the Democracy competition must create a digital voting system which is highly scalable, confidential, and accurate and allows each voter to know that their vote was correctly counted. Teams will implement their voting system in a population of 10,000 voters and make 10 democratic decisions using the system. During the 10 test votes, users must be able to verify that their vote was counted correctly, but votes must be kept confidential (except to the user). The system must also allow a voter whose vote has not been counted correctly to prove that fact to a third party monitoring agency.
Education Ecosystem
Today’s educational system is more than 100 years old, designed to meet our agrarian society. The Education competition could be the catalyst of a bold, measurable, and scientific system reinvention. Demonstration of a new approach causing a dramatic change can lead to national and global publicity and the adoption of the teach approach/technology by schools around the nation and/or world. Teams competing in an Education competition will be composed of a school system (middle or high school) and their corporate partner. Each team must choose a single grade (e.g. 7th, 8th, 9th grade) as their “test grade” and submit the standardized test results for all students from that grade over the past three years (baseline years). The teams will then begin a test period during which they will develop and implement a specified educational approach on the entire grade of their choosing, while maintaining the pre-existing annual budget from the previous baseline years. The team that demonstrates the largest percentage increase in test scores over the test period will be deemed the winner of the competition.
Individual Learning Profiles
Different people learn in different ways. Some learn by reading, others by listening, some are visual, some best by storytelling. Understanding how a person best learns can help them in their education. There are current mechanisms to evaluate a person’s learning profile, but these are expensive. The goal of this competition is to create a low-cost, easy to use, correct, and consistent on-line mechanism that evaluates a user’s learning profile and provides a standard report.
Mobile Phone Application
It is estimated that more than 8o% of the world will have access to a mobile telephone by 2013. The use of this technology for many applications, including revenue generation, is greatly anticipated. This competition would help to establish a new source of revenue for individuals in the developing world and institute a revolutionary form of entrepreneurship. The goal is to create a mobile application that would allow 250,000 people to earn $2 a day for a minimum of 100 days per year.
On-Line Tutor
While there are many small start-ups developing software in this arena, there is no way to compare them, and therefore it is difficult for the software to gain visibility and approval in the marketplace.
Teams competing in the On-Line Tutor competition must develop an automated “on-line tutor” system that improves the performance of students in one of three disciplines: Math, Science, or English.
Rapid Low Cost Housing
Inadequate housing affects more than one billion people on the planet. A new mechanism to rapidly build durable, low-cost housing for less than $3,000 dollars per house would be revolutionary. The winning team must demonstrate the ability to construct a home of at least 1,000 sq. ft. in a period of less than 12 hours, while using 95% locally available materials.
Salt Water Crops
More than 70% of the Earth’s surface is salt water. In order for humans to thrive and produce enough food, it will be imperative for us to look to our oceans for sustainable food sources. A Salt Water Crops competition will encourage teams to develop a food crop that can grow and thrive in brackish waters. The winner will be the first team to plant and grow one acre of a food crop of their choice and have it thrive through two growth cycles in a specified salt water concentration.
Waste to Energy
Though sanitation is the bedrock of public health, sewer systems currently only reach a tiny percentage of humanity. A Waste to Energy competition could rapidly scale sewer systems into the developing world that both decrease the amount of waste that is entering the public water systems, as well as utilize the waste for purposes that can benefit the population of the region (i.e. energy and fertilizer).
Teams competing will design and develop a public restroom and waste processing facility that is able to accommodate 1,000 individuals per day. The system would need to process 100% of human solid and liquid waste into three products: energy, usable fertilizer, or inert waste (not harmful to water or environment). The system would need to operate for one year continuously with no more than 10% down time, and be proven to be profitable on a cash-flow basis within the one year trial period.
Although I really don't like the idea of spreading democracy, I wish they would change that to spreading constitutional stye republic. A democracy can be just tyrannical as dictatorship IMO.
http://www.xprize.org/prize-development/global-entrepreneurship
In Development
Autonomous Auto X PRIZE
More than six million automobile accidents happen annually in the United States resulting in around 2.9 million injuries and more than 40,000 deaths. This is the leading cause of death behind infant and elderly diseases. The financial cost of these crashes is more than $230 billion, or approximately eight cents/mile – more than the cost of gasoline for an efficient vehicle. An autonomous vehicle can dramatically increase automotive safety, reduce commuting time, and greatly reduce fuel consumption.
The Autonomous Auto X PRIZE is a $10 Million prize that will be awarded to the first team to design a passenger car that, through automation, is safer than today's passenger cars.
Plastic Debris X CHALLENGE
A large percentage of plastics currently end up in the ocean; currently, the ocean has more than 220 billion pounds of plastic debris. An estimated 11 billion pounds more are added each year. Analysis of the plastics producer value chain has revealed three areas of activity that producers have undertaken to manage concerns in the plastic lifecycle: i) Use less newly mined (virgin) raw materials, ii) Expand recycling capacity, and iii) Design environmentally-safe degradable products. While early efforts are promising, the breakthrough that can comprehensively manage the sustainable use of plastic has yet to be achieved. The winner of the Plastics Debris X CHALLENGE will be the team that creates a clear plastic container that is able to degrade in the temperature, salinity and UV environment of our oceans. The winning solution must be an environmentally-safe alternative to petroleum plastics at scalable volume.
Concepts Under Consideration
Aviation Battery (Lite/Heavy)
Batteries currently offer energy storage densities of 100’s of Whr/kg, more than two orders of magnitude smaller than liquid fuels. This highly limits the efficiency of any mobile application. New breakthroughs in lightweight batteries will enable longer lifetimes for consumer electronics and substantial improvements in electric vehicles. Using electric remote controlled helicopters, teams competing in the Aviation Battery competition will demonstrate annual improvements in energy storage density for either lite or heavy battery packs. Each team will provide a set size of batteries that will be used to power a standard electric remote controlled helicopter. The helicopter will be flown and recharged ten times, with the shortest flight time being their score. The winning team will demonstrate the greatest increase (at least 10%) in energy storage density over the previous year’s winner.
Carbon Utilization
We recycle aluminum, glass, paper, plastic, and yard waste – why not carbon? As of now, no company has successfully commercialized a carbon utilization technology. Current government funding is narrowly focused on ultra-expensive geologic sequestration, which treats carbon as a liability, with virtually no attention to utilization technologies, which treat carbon as an asset. A Carbon Utilization competition crosses political boundaries and environmental ideologies by finding profit in reducing emissions through technological solutions. The goal would be to develop radical new technologies that solve the global carbon challenge by recycling CO2 into brilliant new products. The winning team must create a system that cost-effectively transforms carbon emissions from coal-based power plants into beneficial products. This must be accomplished while maintaining energy producers’ ability to provide reliable cost-effective “base load” power to their customers, including those below the poverty level.
Electric Aviation
World aviation burns 200 million gallons of fuel each day - or about the volume of an Olympic-sized swimming pool every 5 minutes. A new class of all-electric aircraft would help minimize our dependence on fossil fuels. The Electric Aviation competition would an annual cross-country race rewarding breakthroughs in electric aviation. The winning team will be the one that beats the previous year’s best time by a set margin. The goal is to develop a new generation of fast, safe, long-endurance electric aircraft that will reduce noise and dependence on fossil fuels.
Energy Awareness
Most people are unaware of how their everyday actions and activities at home and work impact the environment. Increasing overall awareness of each individual’s energy use can be an effective way to gain greater support for energy initiatives. The winner of the Energy Awareness competition will be the first team to create a YouTube video and/or website that receives more than 50 million views or generates $2 million in revenue donated towards the X PRIZE Energy & Environment Prize Group. The video or website should be compelling, viral, and deliver a meaningful message on energy and environmental issues.
ePod/Home Energy Storage
Most utilities are paid for the amount of power they sell, providing little incentive for improvements in efficiency. An ePod device can lower peak energy needs, lessen pollution and increase access to renewable power generation; the device will also create greater resiliency to blackouts and brownouts.
The goal of the ePod/Home Energy Storage competition will be to build a home energy storage appliance (ePod) able to measure and understand the typical energy usage of a family as well as the energy cost from the local utility and be able to purchase off-peak energy and provide stored energy to the household during peak energy periods. The winning team must manufacture and deploy 100 units for the competition and demonstrate the ability to scale up to 25,000 units per year within two years. The units must be able to store a total of 5kWh and last at least four years.
Featherweight Solar
Most improvements in solar photovoltaic focus on incremental gains in panel efficiency, not materials or process improvements to reduce weight. This technology is a high risk investment, which is not attractive to the majority of investors, who would rather take the path of least resistance.
Teams competing in the Featherweight Solar competition will build a photovoltaic power module using 90% less mass, without sacrificing power output or cost per watt. The power module must demonstrate the same lifetime kWh output and same Watt peak output and produce the same power at an equivalent cost to similar sized units.
Featherweight Wind
Despite the ready availability of wind, only 2% of total world power needs are currently met by turbines. The successful completion of this prize will allow wind energy to make up a greater percentage of total world power sources. Teams competing in the Featherweight Wind competition will build a wind turbine using 90% less mass, without sacrificing power output or cost per watt. The wind turbines must demonstrate the same lifetime kWh output and same Watt peak output and produce the same power at an equivalent cost to current standards.
Race to Zero CO2
Personal mobility accounts for the most wasteful and, by extension, most environmentally degrading form of CO2 emissions. Current perception is that no market exists for a new class of personal mobility vehicles that, if implemented today, would result in a global vehicle fleet using renewable energy technologies. A Race to Zero CO2 would get the public excited about ultra-low CO2 emitting vehicles. The winner will be the first privately financed team that can circumnavigate the globe within 80 days with the least emissions of CO2. Land vehicles for the overland legs must be capable of transporting a minimum of two 200-pound adults, and must follow a predetermined route. Upon completion of the global circumnavigation, land vehicles will participate in a 200-mile sprint race, without modification to the circumnavigating vehicles.
Rapid Drilling
Geothermal is viewed as a major new source of renewable energy. However, existing drilling technologies are optimized for shallow oil/gas extraction, not deep geothermal needs, and can bear higher costs for the higher value products. A Rapid Drilling competition would increase investments in geothermal, thus greatly reducing the cost, time, and capability limitations of geothermal drilling. Upon selection of a target region of bedrock and specification on the diameter of the holes to be drilled, teams will compete by drilling three holes into the Earth – one after the other – to a depth of five kilometers, utilizing the same equipment and same crew. The winner of the competition will be the team that can complete the task the fastest.
Residential Waste to Power
In both the US and the developing world, economic constraints drive users strongly towards the cheapest solutions for energy, water and waste disposal, largely ignoring environmental and health concerns. Average home municipal waste bills are roughly $200/yr. If consumers could save half of that and reduce electricity bills by 10%, there could be a sizeable market for the deployment of household clean technology systems. Teams in the Residential Waste to Power competition will build, install and demonstrate a household system able to covert the biomass produced by a typical family of four into energy, greywater and other useful or environmentally neutral products. The winner will be the team that is able to operate a biomass conversion system over a 30 day trial period and demonstrate the greatest savings in energy and water compared to the cost of the system.
Robotic Mole
The successful completion of a Robotic Mole competition could result in the ability to tap into the zone of constant temperature just below the earth’s surface in order to provide dramatic improvements in both heating and cooling costs and environmental effects. Ground source energy sources could even be expanded to retrofit existing homes. Teams competing must develop a robotic “mole” that can safely burrow underground beneath existing structures and install the piping for a 4 ton ground source heat pump. The winning team will be determined by the underground depth the robot can reach, as well as the time and cost to excavate.
Solar Pavement
While nearly 3% of US land area is covered by pavement, it provides no benefit other than surface structure. A significant impact could be achieved if it were made to also produce power. The goal of the Solar Pavement competition will be to turn blacktop surfaces into photovoltaic power generation sources. The winner will be the first team to convert a one acre parking lot surface into a generator that can produce a peak power output of 50kW of solar energy.
Concepts Under Consideration
Asteroid Deflection
Thousands of Near Earth Objects (NEOs) exist, but worldwide efforts to catalogue and track these capture only a fraction of them. Historical impacts have had collision forces exceeding a nuclear bomb, causing massive destruction and climate change. While the likelihood of future events is not large, the ramifications could be devastating. Teams competing in the Asteroid Deflection competition will select a target asteroid at least 50 meters in length in an orbit that is not Earth-crossing. The teams must next predict how they will alter the path of the asteroid, causing a deviation in the asteroid’s path of one Earth diameter over a one-year period. The winner of the competition will be the team that then alters the path of that asteroid in a controlled fashion that is within 99.999% accuracy of the predicted path.
Beamed Power Propulsion
Nearly all launches to date have relied on chemical propulsion, carried on board the vehicle, and thereby sharply reducing payload mass fraction. Beamed power offers a radically alternative launch strategy. Payload launch costs to orbit will drop by a factor of 50 or more. The goal is to launch a 10 Kg payload to a 30Km altitude, deriving 100% of its energy from a ground-based beamed power system. The system must also be reusable and repeatable within 24 hours.
Crater Exploration
The recent discovery of water in the permanently shadowed craters on the moon opens massive potential opportunities for exploration, research and business development. This competition would provide a key hardware element for supporting lunar discovery, and would draw public attention to the opportunities presented by lunar water. Teams competing must build a robotic rover system that is capable of traversing to a mock crater ridge from 100 meters away using 100% solar energy. Teams must then explore the inside of the crater using the robotic rover, a sub-rover or deployed sensors.
Deep Human Submersible
We know more about the surface of Mars than the depths of the Earth’s seas, yet no vehicles currently exist for extended human operations at full ocean depths. Success in this competition will result in increased human access to the ocean depths for science and exploration, with substantially improved capabilities for both. The goal is to build and demonstrate a submersible system capable of carrying three people (or equivalent mass & volume) to the deepest ocean in a safe, useful, and repeatable fashion.
Electric Aviation
World aviation burns 200 million gallons of fuel each day - or about the volume of an Olympic-sized swimming pool every 5 minutes. A new class of all-electric aircraft would help minimize our dependence on fossil fuels. The Electric Aviation competition would an annual cross-country race rewarding breakthroughs in electric aviation. The winning team will be the one that beats the previous year’s best time by a set margin. The goal is to develop a new generation of fast, safe, long-endurance electric aircraft that will reduce noise and dependence on fossil fuels.
Lunar Lander
The hardware developed for the Apollo missions used 1960’s technologies, and a great deal of the institutional knowledge gained in that era has been lost. The demonstration of successful new technologies can bolster future lunar exploration, as well as support suborbital research and other markets. This competition would accelerate technologies needed for exploration beyond low earth orbit, and would support the early development of commercial solutions for this market. The goal would be to build a Lunar Lander that can fly for at least six minutes while carrying a 25 kg payload.
Ocean Explorer Platform
We currently know more about the surfaces of many extraterrestrial bodies than our own oceans, and have no effective platforms or sensors for improving that knowledge. This technology will leverage breakthroughs in energy storage, data processing, sensing and communications to bring state-of-the-art science back to the seas, thereby increasing our basic scientific literacy for climate models, biosphere analysis, and exploration. The result of an Ocean Explorer Platform competition would be the development of a small, low-power autonomous undersea vehicle that can derive three-dimensional maps of oceanographic data.
Ocean Floor Mapping
We lack high-resolution maps of nearly 75% of the planet’s surface. Improved knowledge of the ocean floor will improve exploration, navigation, basic geological discovery and economic development. The winning team must demonstrate a repeatable and scalable method to map a specified region of the ocean floor within a defined period of time. The mapping method must provide high-resolution images as well as thermal, current, and sample data.
Ocean pH Sensor
In this competition, teams will develop small, low-power sensors that focus on pH data acquisition to help improve the current models of climate change and broaden our knowledge of biosphere ecology. The winning team will be the one with the highest accuracy during a date-certain 3-month deployment. The competition will be staged in a site (<2,000m depth) that is both scientifically relevant and technically challenging.
Orbital Debris Removal
Millions of pieces of debris are currently orbiting Earth at altitudes that pose a danger to satellites and human spacecraft. The threat from such debris is predicted to rise 50% in the coming decade and quadruple in the next 50 years. Large object collisions are particularly dangerous, due to the ensuing creation of additional debris. Teams competing in the Orbital Debris competition must select a target piece of orbital debris and either de-orbit the debris or move the debris in a predicted and accurate fashion to a new orbit deemed non-threatening by a panel of expert judges. The first team to complete this task will be determined the winner.
Personal Electric Autonomous Air Transporter
Congestion is growing in ground transportation, which could be partially remedied by more fully utilizing 3-dimensional airspace. However, aircraft are currently available only for long-distance operations. Autonomy improves reaction time and accuracy, adding substantial benefits in terms of safety. The winner of the Personal Electric Autonomous Air Transporter competition will be the first team that is able to develop a vehicle that is 100% autonomous and able to carry 100 kg a distance of one kilometer, reaching a maximum altitude of 2,000 feet while maintaining a noise level of less than 72dB. The vehicle must repeat the flight in reverse without recharging or refueling, completing the round-trip in less than 10 minutes.
Reaction Engine
Current vehicles are limited to high efficiency either within or outside of the atmosphere. A reaction engine would allow for optimized operations in either environment, reducing the amount of onboard oxidizer needed during atmospheric flight. Success in this domain could enable higher efficiency rocket launches, as well as potentially lower the technical hurdles to hypersonic point-to-point vehicles. The winning team will be the first to demonstrate an engine able to operate both as a jet engine (using atmospheric oxygen) and as a rocket (using stored oxidizer).
Suborbital
Space research costs today are dominated by expensive launches, precluding many interested researchers, students and companies from engaging. This competition would bring on-line a new era of low cost suborbital rocket flight, which would be useful to academia and scientists. The first team to fly a reusable sub-orbital rocket above 200,000 feet three times in a three day period while carrying a 25 Kg scientific payload exposed to the ambient atmosphere for photographs or research will be determined the winner.
Wolfram Physics
Modern theories of physics lack computational rigor and feature both large gaps and a high degree of uncertainty. Dr. Stephen Wolfram has proposed a grand unified theory of physics which he will post in detail to a website. Teams competing in the Wolfram Physics competition will be asked to evaluate this theory and either formally reject it, or develop it into a fully completed theory with appropriate proofs.
In Development
Micronutrients X PRIZE
A staggering two billion people suffer from micronutrient deficiency—a lack of crucial vitamins and minerals that prevent brain damage, enhance neural development, and forestall disease. The Micronutrients X PRIZE will be awarded to the team that develops the supplementation and fortification methods to durably bind micronutrients such as iron to flour and/or staple foods. As a result of this prize, we can help save millions of lives and achieve hundreds of billions of dollars of economic impact.
Tuberculosis Diagnostics X PRIZE
The Tuberculosis Diagnostics X PRIZE is a competition to create a set of rapid, accurate, and easy-to-use, point-of-care diagnostics to eradicate tuberculosis in developing countries. Nearly two million deaths occur annually in 22 tuberculosis high-incident developing countries. The TB Diagnostics X PRIZE can help ensure that every TB patient has access to effective diagnosis, treatment, and cure, which will reduce the inequitable social and economic toll of TB.
Cookstoves X CHALLENGE
Each year nearly two million people die from utilizing ‘cook-stoves’ that incompletely burn their fuel, resulting in soot and carbon monoxide poisoning for the women and children in the home. Over two billion people globally use biomass cookstoves that often require hours of gathering sticks and other fuel. This competition will spur the development and adoption of an inexpensive non-toxic and efficient cook-stove that will help eliminate deaths caused by cook-stoves in the developing world.
Neurometrics Learning X CHALLENGE
The Neurometrics Learning X CHALLENGE is a competition to create a low cost, sufficiently accurate, and scalable method for measuring the way in which an individual learns best. The winning team will develop a method for measuring the Brain Learning Processes (i.e. attention, memory, processing speed, prediction, executive function, spatial skills etc.) that display the highest correlation to educational outcomes.
Concepts Under Consideration
2G Mobile Phone Education
It is estimated that more than 80% of the world will have access to 2G phones by 2013. This will offer a strong distribution platform for educational material, yet no mobile company has taken on the challenge of developing the software. The winning team of the 2G Mobile Phone Education competition must create a cell phone based “Education Program” that is easy to use by anyone with a 2G cell phone (text and voice). The system should use voice for delivering lessons or lectures and text for questions and testing. Educational content should include basic subjects such as literacy, agriculture, healthcare, and infant care, as well as education relating to the region of the world in which the technology is deployed.
African Entrepreneurship
This competition is designed to address the current poverty crisis in Africa through entrepreneurial job creation in areas that will both stimulate the economy and increase the standard of living throughout the continent. Entrepreneurship is critical to economic development, according to the UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development). While sound macroeconomic policies and providing market access are crucial, emerging markets need to nurture and develop entrepreneurs. The goal is to inspire African universities, companies, and incubators to generate in-country entrepreneurs and new jobs. Competing teams will consist of a variety of organizations, both academic and corporate, that will recruit and train entrepreneurs and incubate the new companies started by those entrepreneurs. The winning team will be the organization whose African-based ethical and socially beneficial companies employ the most qualified employees over a five year period.
Democracy
In a world of relatively secure ATMs that can handle complex transactions, blood is shed and nations are upended in disputes over the simple counting of votes. Providing a clean vote counting technology will be one step towards a solution. The winning team of the Democracy competition must create a digital voting system which is highly scalable, confidential, and accurate and allows each voter to know that their vote was correctly counted. Teams will implement their voting system in a population of 10,000 voters and make 10 democratic decisions using the system. During the 10 test votes, users must be able to verify that their vote was counted correctly, but votes must be kept confidential (except to the user). The system must also allow a voter whose vote has not been counted correctly to prove that fact to a third party monitoring agency.
Education Ecosystem
Today’s educational system is more than 100 years old, designed to meet our agrarian society. The Education competition could be the catalyst of a bold, measurable, and scientific system reinvention. Demonstration of a new approach causing a dramatic change can lead to national and global publicity and the adoption of the teach approach/technology by schools around the nation and/or world. Teams competing in an Education competition will be composed of a school system (middle or high school) and their corporate partner. Each team must choose a single grade (e.g. 7th, 8th, 9th grade) as their “test grade” and submit the standardized test results for all students from that grade over the past three years (baseline years). The teams will then begin a test period during which they will develop and implement a specified educational approach on the entire grade of their choosing, while maintaining the pre-existing annual budget from the previous baseline years. The team that demonstrates the largest percentage increase in test scores over the test period will be deemed the winner of the competition.
Individual Learning Profiles
Different people learn in different ways. Some learn by reading, others by listening, some are visual, some best by storytelling. Understanding how a person best learns can help them in their education. There are current mechanisms to evaluate a person’s learning profile, but these are expensive. The goal of this competition is to create a low-cost, easy to use, correct, and consistent on-line mechanism that evaluates a user’s learning profile and provides a standard report.
Mobile Phone Application
It is estimated that more than 8o% of the world will have access to a mobile telephone by 2013. The use of this technology for many applications, including revenue generation, is greatly anticipated. This competition would help to establish a new source of revenue for individuals in the developing world and institute a revolutionary form of entrepreneurship. The goal is to create a mobile application that would allow 250,000 people to earn $2 a day for a minimum of 100 days per year.
On-Line Tutor
While there are many small start-ups developing software in this arena, there is no way to compare them, and therefore it is difficult for the software to gain visibility and approval in the marketplace.
Teams competing in the On-Line Tutor competition must develop an automated “on-line tutor” system that improves the performance of students in one of three disciplines: Math, Science, or English.
Rapid Low Cost Housing
Inadequate housing affects more than one billion people on the planet. A new mechanism to rapidly build durable, low-cost housing for less than $3,000 dollars per house would be revolutionary. The winning team must demonstrate the ability to construct a home of at least 1,000 sq. ft. in a period of less than 12 hours, while using 95% locally available materials.
Salt Water Crops
More than 70% of the Earth’s surface is salt water. In order for humans to thrive and produce enough food, it will be imperative for us to look to our oceans for sustainable food sources. A Salt Water Crops competition will encourage teams to develop a food crop that can grow and thrive in brackish waters. The winner will be the first team to plant and grow one acre of a food crop of their choice and have it thrive through two growth cycles in a specified salt water concentration.
Waste to Energy
Though sanitation is the bedrock of public health, sewer systems currently only reach a tiny percentage of humanity. A Waste to Energy competition could rapidly scale sewer systems into the developing world that both decrease the amount of waste that is entering the public water systems, as well as utilize the waste for purposes that can benefit the population of the region (i.e. energy and fertilizer).
Teams competing will design and develop a public restroom and waste processing facility that is able to accommodate 1,000 individuals per day. The system would need to process 100% of human solid and liquid waste into three products: energy, usable fertilizer, or inert waste (not harmful to water or environment). The system would need to operate for one year continuously with no more than 10% down time, and be proven to be profitable on a cash-flow basis within the one year trial period.