Community Impact Award: INSITU 2013
INSITU 2013 casts a wide net, but essentially it’s a global, mobile think-tank for new ideas for cities. From their site: by [w]orking with academic institutions, private industry, community groups, and designers from a wide-cross section of disciplines, we aim to create intelligent relationships between the inhabitants, the consumers and the producers of our cities.”
Global Potential Award: The Looper
The Looper is a design for a floating greenhouse. Designed by the firm RTKL, the retrofitted river barge could grab water from a river and filter out clean H2O. That water would then be sent to an area on the barge, where plants and fish and plants would be held.
Autodesk Sustainable Innovation Award: From Blight to Bright
Architecture firm Gensler took home an award for their Town Square Initiative, a sweeping design plan to make more sustainable New York.
Social Impact Award: Sseko
Sseko (pronounced say-ko) sells sandals made by Ugandan women, who are paid a fair wage so they can earn money to pay college tuition.
Greentech Award: New Sky Energy (Tie)
Instead of destroying industrial waste, New Sky Energy uses technology to change it into other helpful chemicals. That earned them this (tie!) award in the Greentech category.
Greentech Award: Blue River Technology (Tie)
Blue River Technology earned the other half of this award for building robotics for use in sustainable agriculture, like a tractor-type machine that’s very good at harvesting lettuce.
Cleanweb Award: Faraday (Tie)
On the software side, energy-consumption-tracking company Faraday took top honors. The team there lets companies monitor how a solar energy campaign is going by displaying the wattage being used in an area.
Cleanweb Award: WaterSmart (Tie)
Last but not least, WaterSmart also took top honors in the Cleanweb category for creating a system that can monitor water use in neighborhoods, then send residents stats on their water use, their neighbors’ use, and the best ways for them to cut back.