“Smart Support Sought”—Smart Energy Challenge

Busy in your day job but you want to help Wellingtonians run innovative projects to tackle climate change?

Come to the Smart Energy Cafe and support the teams who are bringing smart energy to life in your city.

“The Cafe is an open invitation to the Wellington community to be part of Wellington City Council’s work on climate change”, says Wellington City Councilor and Climate Change Portfolio Leader David Lee.

“Three exciting projects and teams will connect with users, customers, mentors and collaborators and raise the profile of smart energy solutions in Wellington”, says Smart Energy Challenge project coordinator Chelsea Robinson.

The successful applications that are moving through the Challenge are: “shyft” a cooperative car share system for the city, “Aro Solar” smart energy for community centres and a solar powered heater for Wellington homes.

“We’re particularly interested in Wellingtonians who need to access cars, live in Aro Valley or have cold homes joining us to support projects and help make them the best they can be in Wellington”, says Chelsea Robinson.

These community-driven projects were chosen for support and potential funding because of their aim and ability to reduce energy use or increase clean energy generation in Wellington.

From next week teams will move on to the crowdfunding round, where they promote their projects on PledgeMe in order to raise funds from the community. The Council will match fund the amount each project raises, capped at a total of $20,000 across all successful projects.

The Challenge is a pilot project and a collaboration between Wellington City Council, local social enterprises Enspiral and PledgeMe and climate change organisation Generation Zero. These organisations, with support from partners - Deloitte, Kiwibank, New Zealand Post, the Sustainability Trust and the Greater Wellington Regional Council - are helping successful applicants to develop their projects through a series of workshops, community events, mentoring and networking opportunities.

The Smart Energy Cafe is at 5.30pm, Tuesday 25 March at the Southern Cross Garden Bar Restaurant, 39 Abel Smith Street, Te Aro, Wellington. Please RSVP on the Facebook event—

https://www.facebook.com/groups/261750644002236/?fref=ts

For more information about the Smart Energy Challenge go to www.smartenergychallenge.org.nz.

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