The Green Challenge has opened its doors for the fifth time this year. It has seen many remarkable ideas and creative contestant in the past. Previous winners have become successful with their innovative products, partly thanks to the publicity and the network of the Postcode Lottery Green Challenge.
2010
Scot Frank has won the Postcode Lottery Green Challenge 2010 for the affordable portable solar concentrator SolSource. His Royal Highness Prince Friso of Orange-Nassau, the honorary jury chair, announced the American as the recipient of the €500,000 grand prize. "This is fantastic," Frank said. "We've been working with target users in China for five years. We'll use this money to set up our Chinese manufacturing, marketing and distribution base."
2009
A nearly invisible rooftop wind turbine was awarded the €500,000 in 2009. "It's beyond a dream,” said English entrepreneur Dean Gregory when Skype founder Niklas Zennström, one of the contest jurors, announced his name. For 2009, two one-time €100,000 prizes have gone to runners-up, both services for the haulage industry. The online transport marketplace Shiply.com matches people shipping goods with truckers already going in the right direction, making the industry more efficient. The Ephicas SideWing truck trailer skirt lowers wind resistance by guiding airflow, cutting fuel use.
2008
In 2008, 23-year-old American Eben Bayer won the Postcode Lottery Green Challenge for his revolutionary building material, Greensulate. Bayer and his team invented an insulation material made of biological waste material treated with a special fungus. With the €500,000 prize money, presented by Amsterdam Deputy Mayor Lodewijk Asscher, Bayer has succeeded to get the product on the market. The jury said Greensulate could decrease CO2 emissions on a global scale and revolutionise the building industry. An extra €100,000 prize was awarded to runner-up Capra J'neva, whose company, Veranda Solar, developed easy-to-use energy panels.
2007
In 2007, jury chairman Sir Richard Branson presented the €500,000 prize to the first winner, Igor Kluin of Qurrent, for his Qbox. The Qbox enables people to generate their own energy locally from renewable sources. Other finalists presented a solar lamp, low-emissions goods transport, an online green initiative, and climate-friendly clubbing.
The international competition is supported by some important people such as Green Challenge judges Sir Richard Branson and Niklas Zennström. Bill Clinton has also spoken very positively about our initiative.
Sir Richard Branson (Green Challenge judge 2007): "People aren't going to stop consuming. Instead, we must offer the consumer a green alternative to bring climate change to a halt. The Postcode Lottery Green Challenge is about stimulating the development of these alternatives. The large number of entries demonstrates that awareness of the need to change and the willingness to do something about it are felt worldwide."
Niklas Zennström (Green Challenge judge 2009): "As an entrepreneur, I know how profoundly new ideas can affect the way we live and do business. Not only is this prize an important step in recognising a promising solution for fighting climate change, it provides the winner with essential money and the contacts he or she needs to be successful and help make the world a better place for all of us."
Bill Clinton, (initiator Global Clinton Initiative): "I'm pleased that the Dutch Postcode Lottery has launched the Green Challenge to encourage entrepreneurs to develop new ways to fight one of the most pressing issues of our time: climate change."
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