Breakout Sessions
In March 2015, the Climate CoLab opened up 15 contests, each focused on a challenge the world is facing as we confront climate change. From 400 submissions, 28 proposals were chosen by our expert teams of judges and by the Climate CoLab community as winners, and presented in person and virtually in interactive breakout sessions. In these sessions, attendees worked with the winning authors and experts to create concrete actions and connections to help the proposals come to fruition.
Attendees chose one session to attend for each of the three 50-minute blocks.
| 9:00 am- 9:50 am | 10:00 am- 10:50 am |
9:00 am- 9:50 am
Solutions For Cities: Urban Design
Sala de Puerto Rico, 2nd floor, Stratton Student Center
Cooling with Urban-Ecosystem Services / Biomimicry NE
FIGHT urban heat island effect like a forest. Capture water, filter light, and evaporate to keep cool.
Cold Spot: Evaporative Cooling through Ceramics / ceramics
Designing an oasis in the heat island of Cambridge.
China’s rural-urban intensification. Envisioning the habitat of the future/ tcatta
Design strategies to improve resilience of China’s rural towns. Envisioning harmonious relationship between the rural and urban environments.
Expert Panelists:
- Tunney Lee, professor Emeritus, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning
- Christina Chase, Entrepreneur in Residence, MIT Martin Trust Center
- John Dalzell, Senior Architect, City of Boston Redevelopment Authority
Moderator:
Jen Lawrence
Start-Ups for Developing Economies
20 Chimneys, 3rd floor, Stratton Student Center
SunSaluter: a low-cost, passive solar tracker that produces clean water/ SunSaluter
The SunSaluter is a low-cost solar panel rotator which boosts efficiency by 30% and produces four liters of clean drinking water each day!
Pedal power / New Latin America
An initiative that reduce green house gases emissions; while you generate electricity, get a healthier life and reduce vehicular traffic.
Making every watt count: An intelligent demand side management system on phones / Energy-Save (Esave)
A smart energy audit on consumers’ phones displaying their real time electricity consumption, wastage sources n tips to reduce energy use.
Expert Panelists:
- Dennis R. Costello, Managing Partner, Braemar Energy Ventures
- Silvia Pariente-David, former Senior Energy Specialist in the MENA region of the World Bank
- Prabir Purohit, Director, Power & Renewables, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Moderator:
Brian McFarland
Mobilizing Citizens for Climate Action
Mezzanine, 3rd floor, Stratton Student Center
National campaign in India aimed to create a network of young Energy Ambassadors / Vijnana Bharati
National level campaign on energy conservation and renewable energy in Indian schools, aimed at building a network of Energy Ambassadors
Unleash the energy of millions by making climate action simple, relevant and fun / Dylan H + Quentin P
It’s 2050 and your granddaughter, Ohno, is suffering. Your climate action today will change her world and transform her life for the better.
Expert Panelists:
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Sarah Finnie Robinson, Founding Partner, WeSpire Inc.
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Jeffrey Warren, Research Director, Public Lab
Bob Halperin
Pricing Carbon Emissons in the United States
West Lounge, 2nd floor, Stratton Student Center
Novel Strategy On Private Sector's Internal/"Shadow" Carbon Pricing / kathoh
Surprise: many companies already have internal/shadow carbon pricing! Here's how to use leverage more carrots & sticks to make it universal.
Sweeten the Carbon Deal / billferree
Build a climate fix coalition by cutting taxes on wages. This is the sugar. Medicine is the fee on carbon.
The Little Engine That Could: Revenue Neutral Carbon Fee and Dividend / CitizensClimateLobby
A revenue neutral, steadily rising fee on GHG emissions will steer the economy to a clean energy future and establish US climate leadership.
Expert Panelists:
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Chris Knittel, Director, MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research
- David Miller, Executive Managing Director, Clean Energy Venture Group
- Jason Jay, Senior Lecturer and Director, Sustainability Initiative at MIT Sloan
Moderator:
Rob Laubacher
Pamir Mountains: Adapting Ecological Calendars
Room 407, 4th floor, Stratton Student Center
Biodiversity collections as tools for understanding changes in the Pamir Mtns / ellwood
Anticipate and adapt to changing phenological patterns in the Pamir Mtns through the use of historical and contemporary biodiversity data.
Linking Climate Information to Ecological Calendars: An Appointment With Drought / mattbarlow
Prepare for climate change and apply regional drought information in the Pamirs by linking climate science with human ecological calendars.
Recalibration of traditional calendars through participatory data collection / TedW
Traditional knowledge, participatory science, and modern data analytics to create climate-smart, farm-scale agricultural body calendars.
Expert Panelists:
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Karim-Aly Kassam, International Professor of Environmental and Indigenous Studies, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University
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Morgan Ruelle, Food Systems and Poverty Reduction IGERT, Department of Natural Resources, Cornell University
- Christopher Dunn, E. N. Wilds Director of Cornell Plantations, Cornell University
Moderator:
Raj Pandya
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10:00 am- 10:50 am
Solutions for Cities: Developing Economies
Sala de Puerto Rico, 2nd floor, Stratton Student Center
Networking Rwanda's Air Pollution Problem with Low-Cost Air Quality Sensors / langleydew
Establishing a low-cost air quality sensor network in Kigali, Rwanda with publicly accessible data empowering the public and policies.
Establish Local Energy Interaction Strategies (LEIS) as driver to GHG reductions / G4 Energía
Highly replicable solution for Latin America reality based on local energy interaction strategy to create a win-win network to GHG reduction.
Bamboo Air Purification / Joseph5Chepsoi
Bamboo grows in most soils, environments, climate with minimal tillage, input, care and naturally purifies the air we breathe.
Electricity at the lowest societal cost: holistic optimization / EMERGE
Electricity at the lowest societal cost by optimizing techno-economic, environmental and health impacts of electricity infrastructure growth.
Expert Panelists:
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Sylvia Pariente-David, former Senior Energy Specialist in the MENA region of the World Bank
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Kofi Taha, Associate Director, IDIN Innovation Center Coordinator
Start-Ups for Advanced Economies
20 Chimneys, 3rd floor, Stratton Student Center
fulFILL: A delivery service for household products without wasteful packaging / fulFILL
fulFILL aims to combat the waste epidemic by revolutionizing the way we consume common household products.
Plan to build low-carbon cities from the ground up in the United States/ NewCityFounders
Low-carbon cities can be engineered and built today for livability, sustainability, resiliency, energy-efficiency and affordability.
Expert Panelists:
- Prabir Purohit, Director, Power & Renewables, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
- Dennis R. Costello, Managing Partner, Braemar Energy Ventures
- Sgouris Sgouridis, Associate Professor, Masdar Institute of Science and Technology
Moderator:
Brian McFarland
Mobilizing Cities and Industries for Climate Action
Mezzanine, 3rd floor, Stratton Student Center
2020 Cities By 2020: America's Mayors Taking Charge On Climate Change / kathoh
Cities, not Congress, are leading the charge on climate change. Accelerate the movement to double the # cities onboard to 2020 by 2020.
United States Industrial Collaboration Agency (USICA) / SolarVibes
Removing inefficiencies of industrial innovation by facilitating collaborations and accelerating R&D solutions toward earlier adoption.
Expert Panelists:
- Steve Fugarazzo, Manager Facilities Engineering & Enterprise Energy at Raytheon
- Jason Jay, Senior Lecturer and Director, Sustainability Initiative at MIT Sloan
Moderator:
Steve & Shadrack Osero
Empowering Rural Communities through Sustainable Land Management
West Lounge, 2nd floor, Stratton Student Center
Seeding Science Knowledge by engaging local experts / Geocitizens
Local prioritization and testing of adaptation practices supported by a collaborative mapping tool will out scale lessons learned globally
Integrating REDD+ and Green Economic Growth for sustainable forest landscapes / charlesehrhart
Using green economic growth to create scalable, replicable financial incentives for the sustainable management of forest landscapes.
Sand Dams for Climate Change Adaptation in Ghana / G4CC
The project aims to build six sand dams in the Upper East region of Ghana to capture and store water for domestic and agricultural purposes.
Expert Panelists:
- Elizabeth Teague, Senior Associate for Environmental Performance, Root Capital
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Jayant Sathaye, former Senior Scientist and Strategic Advisor, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
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D. James Baker, former Administrator of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and current Director, Global Carbon Measurement Program, William J. Clinton Foundation
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11:00 am- 11:50 am
Local Solutions for the City of Somerville
Room 407, 4th floor, Stratton Student Center
Sustainable Urban Food Initiative (SUFI) for Climate Change Resilience/ PlaneTiers
SUFI provides an integrated hub that sustainably manages the urban energy-water-food nexus in an era of climate change.
The Loop Transit System / SomClimateAction
The Loop transit system is a fleet of fare-based passenger vehicles that travel planned routes within city limits on a continuous schedule.
CarbonGobbler - Engaging Citizens And Business In Lowering Carbon Emissions / CarbonGobbler
Manage and Control Carbon Emission biggies, energy use and transportation choices with CarbonGobbler. While saving money too.
Expert Panelists:
- Oliver Sellers-Garcia, Director of Sustainability and Environment, City of Somerville, MA
- John Dalzell, Senior Architect, City of Boston Redevelopment Authority
- Ryan Wright, Founder and CEO, WrightGrid, LLC
Moderator:
Bob Halperin
Ocean Energy and Emissions Policy
20 Chimneys, 3rd floor, Stratton Student Center
Robotic Solar Armada / Helionauts
Synthetic fuel produced by solar harvesting ships can accelerate the transition to renewable energy by obviating an infrastructure overhaul.
Tidal Pump / Robert Tulip
The Tidal Pump, now at proof of concept, aims to shift large volumes of liquid in the ocean at lowest possible cost using new technology.
An economically and legally viable mechanism for internalizing marine emissions / Ship-Emissions-Levy
Making polluters pay for climate damage caused by maritime emissions by overcoming avoidance, legal, data and global coordination issues.
Expert Panelists:
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Barry Liner, Director, Water Science & Engineering Center at Water Environment Federation
- D. James Baker, former Administrator of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and current Director, Global Carbon Measurement Program, William J. Clinton Foundation
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Carl Neslon, Clean Energy Venture Group
Sustainable Waste Management
Mezzanine, 3rd floor, Stratton Student Center
Nualgi - Diatom Algae for Sewage Treatment / Nualgi-Diatom Algae
Using Nualgi to grow Diatoms is the most economical and sustainable solution to sewage treatment, growing fish and fuel and sequester carbon.
GHG Rescue; Buying Waste from Households and selling it to Recycle Companies / G4CC
The GHG Rescue Project seeks to buy segregated waste from households in Accra, Ghana and sell it to Recycling Companies.
Generation of Biogas energy from animal waste for use in rural areas / asigealex
The use of Biogas energy from animal waste is a sustainable source of energy to meet the domestic energy demands for cooking and lighting.
Expert Panelists:
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Kofi Taha, Associate Director, IDIN Innovation Center Coordinator
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Kate Mytty, Co-instructor of MIT D-Lab: Waste
- Josh Eichen, Planner / Pratt Cneter for Community Development
Moderator:
Katie O'Connor
New Materials for Reducing Emissions
West Lounge, 2nd floor, Stratton Student Center
Utilizing Molecularly Imprinted Technology to Selectively Filter Pollutants / alexkrotz
Molecular Imprinted Polymers present a unique opportunity to make inexpensive materials that selectively bind to and filter pollutants.
3D Printing Hempcrete - The People will know what they want once they see it... / AFMPPA
Build a full size 3D Printed Hempcrete Structure to demonstrate Hemp/3D Printing as a sustainable alternative to traditional construction.
Expert Panelists:
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Christina Chase, Entrepreneur in Residence, MIT Martin Trust Center
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Michael Gibson, Co-founder, embr labs; PhD candidate, MIT Materials Science and Engineering
