Amsterdam Drops nominated!

The Amsterdam Drops project – by Floris Schoonderbeek and Sinds1416 – is one of the 57 nominees of the 452 entries for the What Design Can Do Design: Clean Energy Challenge, in which solutions are sought to make the historic capital sustainable.

The idea is basically a low-tech battery: the surplus of wind and solar energy is stored by lifting the Drops – weighing 500 kg and made of recycled concrete – with a small electric motor. When there is a need for energy, the system drops the Drops and the gravity is converted into usable energy. Enough to provide a household with light for an evening or to light the lampposts in the street.

The WDCD Clean Energy Challenge covers a period of a year, from the open call for submissions to the implementation of the winning ideas. Each phase of the challenge is a step forward in developing the submitted ideas into impactful design, products or services that can push the transition to clean energy.  Why this challenge? We need to change the way we power our daily lives. Cities consume the majority of the energy supply, often powered by fossil fuels. Therefore cities and metropolitan areas offer a huge opportunity to transform the way we generate and use energy. We need creative solutions to get as much power from as little energy as possible, wasting as little as we can. That is why, together with Ikea Foundation, WDCD is seeking design interventions that integrate renewable energy, energy saving and energy efficient approaches.