Students at the Center for Energy Environmental Policy (CEEP) at the University of Delaware have been honored at the Climate CoLab’s conference, Crowds & Climate: From Ideas to Action, held at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Climate CoLab is a project at the MIT that crowdsources ideas to to address climate change. The CEEP Team–Job Taminiau, Kathleen Saul, Gordon Schweitzer (alum) and Sardar Mohazzam –won the Judges’ and Popular Choice Awards for its proposal entitled “Democratic Finance: Energy of the People, for the People and for the People.” They also won the Honorable Mention for their proposal that seeks to instal community-funded solar projects on unused federal rooftop space.

“It’s a great feeling to be announced in the Final 4 Winners — out of 600, and to win the Honorable Mention,” said Job. The team predict their predict if implemented could help mitigate millions of tons of carbon emissions.

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Grand Prize and Honorable Mention awardees. L-R: Sardar Mohazzam, Kathleen Saul, Job Taminiau, Anne-Marie Soulsby and Danielle Dahan.

“Reconnecting people to the issue of energy by allowing them to invest in the energy future of the nation,” writes the CEEP team in their proposal, “requires an investment platform. The creation of a national investment capability can direct the transformative promise inherent in the innovative character of democratic finance towards a fundamental energy transition.”

“The proposal draws inspiration from previous work done by the authors and colleagues here at the Center for Energy of Environmental Policy (CEEP). Specifically, the idea to repurpose energy obese citizens to energy wise investors and participants in the energy transition draws from ongoing work on a disruptive institutional innovation that allows for similar dynamics: the Sustainable Energy Utility (SEU).”

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The winner of the Grand Prize winner, Danielle Dahan, took home  $10,000 award for her proposal titled, “Improve Building Energy Performance: Green Job Skills Training,” which addresses shortage of skilled personnel  focussed on providing whole building systems services–heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC)–and energy savings optimization.  A team of prominent experts drawn from MIT Energy Initiative, Stanford University, and MIT Sloan School of Management selected the winning proposals.

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