Building prototypes and experiences
Saturday, May 26, was a hot day, about 26 degrees. It was the day we had chosen for our hackathon. “Hackathon” is composed of the words “to hack”: using technology for something it was not originally designed for, and “marathon”: to keep going. Our hackathon was only 12 hours, more usual is 24 or 36 hours.
At 10 o’clock the first people arrived at our premises in Bussum. Coffee and tea were waiting for them in the lounge. Our coffee machine had arrived the day before. After we wore down two old, rickety machines (although there are hardly any coffee drinkers amongst us), we had decided to buy a new one this time. One that grinds the beans, so it produces nice and fresh coffee.
Many participants already knew each other, the rest seemed to quickly feel at home. Of course there were cancellations: one person was ill, another could not attend due to family circumstances. Those who had not been here before, were shown around the laser cutters, the 3D printer, the solder corner, electronics and the workshop for the heavy work, where the sawing and drilling machines are.
The interactive briefing
At 10.30 sharp we gathered around the screen where Kosmo gave his presentation. In fact it was more a briefing than a presentation. He started with a short introduction, thanking Wiek II, Rotslab and Setup. Wiek II because Pim and Niek were present as jury resp. knowledge holder. Rotslab because the structure of the presentation is made by them. Setup because they are the inventors of building blocks.
Then we arrived at the question: how can we motivate the masses for the energy transition, so that they are going to enjoy it? We devided that question into three seperate questions:
- What do people enjoy?
- What is energy transition?
- How can we motivate people?
We elaborated on those questions in teams of three. We took turns in being interviewer, interviewee and note taker. A lot of answers came out of that. We collected those on post-its.
We also profoundly dove into the ‘why’: why is energy transition important, why do we need to transfer to renewable energy, why is that difficult etc. Niek had an important contribution.
One of the insights I remember most is that the energy sector is very conservative and hierarchical. Thence there is not yet a lot of creative thinking about solutions in that sector. And if or when new solutions are found, the base is often this hierarchical structure. This structure exists as well in the energy supply: the power plant that stands somewhere and is the centre of everything, from where the energy is led away in many ways to where it is used. And that structure exists in a similar way in the organisation: the head office with the top, where all decisions are made that the rest of the company must execute. The branche is not yet used to bottom up thinking and bottom up action. So it is still inconvenient to fit in citizans’ initiatives in the existing world of energy.
After all this input each one of us wrote down four ideas. The most achievable, your favorite, the most ambitious and the idea with most impact. We clustered those ideas and ended up with roughly four concepts:
- Finances and regulation: use this to emphasise the urgency of the transition to renewable energy
- Gaming: show it is fun
- Cooperation: get together with your street, community, village and think what you can do to become more sustainable together
- Design: there is a lot of resistance against lanscape pollution by wind mills. Will the importance prevale if the community has a stronger say in it? Or if wind mills and solar parks are prettier?
We devided into four teams, that each chose a part of one of these concepts to work on.
At work
Then we had lunch together, after which everyone wanted to get to work quickly. Each team found a place at the desks and got a keyboard, mouse or laptop stand if needed.
All afternoon we worked at our concepts in teams. I was in the team finances/regulations. Bert had a clear idea: every Dutch citizen must be obliged to cooperate. Within this general obligation everyone is free to choose how. You can actively participate in many different ways: adjust your house, start a citizens initiative or join one, adjust your way of living by for example move closer to work or cycle more often, invest, be politically involved etc. If you do not want to do that, that is fine too. The consequence is that you have to either do a course aboute the importance and urgency of energy transition, or pay more taxes.
We developed a test people have to do: the Sustainable Energy Test. Bert and I made the questions, based on the answers we gathered together that morning. Vesa was programming all afternoon to make the test so that we could actually play it (although the questions are still a little rough)!
Diner was a buffet from the Indonesian toko. Most filled their plate and kept working. Especially Vesa ate most of his food cold; he did not allow himself time for a break. But it was worth it: a building blox with online test!
The building blox
A building blox is a cube with one open side. We built in screens, with a raspberrie pie (no, not those you can eat, but a mini computer). That is how we could program everything on the screen. We could program a whole system, or just use a static photo. In front of the screen was space to add fysical components.
Presentation of the four building blox
Then it was time for the presentations. And not only our result was worthwhile; the other three teams had worked at least as hard and each had developed a very different, super concept. Pim was the jury. He judged the pro’s and con’s of each idea very clearly.
The Local Platform
This platform offers the possibility to use components they develop, to use for your own plan or community. The platform can also bring people together who then can execute their plans. They made a film with text that explains the concept.
Pim: it is a very good idea that our own society stimulates people working together and finding support to commit themselves for sustainable energy. The difficulty is that it is hard to reach people.
Solar building kit
This is based on the wish to make younsters familiar with renewable energy. Not in a patronising way, but buy letting them play with it. By building a little airplane on solar energy.
Pim: it works well to start young. Wiek II has experience with this; a lot of schools come for visits. It would be perfect to give them such a building kit to take home. Not only because the youngsters can build it, but also to involve the parents. They are much more difficult to get in touch with. Disadvantage of this concept is that it is too late to depend on the younger generations.
Energy competition
Who will become the greenest city? This concept appeals to the sense of competition between for example Nijmegen en Arnhem. It is made visible online how sustainable the city is. In the building blox you see the map of the cities framed by green leaves.
Pim: competition has been tried before and it works! The risk is though that after the competition people fall back into their old behaviour.
The Sustainable Energy Test
This has been explained above; you must to do an online test to measure your level of sustainability.
Pim: the risk is that rich people get the easy way out; they just pay more and turn the heater up to 23 degrees. That is only partially compensated by the amount they pay extra to use for renewable energy. The positive part of this idea was that it is an instrument of awareness building.
Then it was time for a final drink, nicely outside in the warm night!