What is the Efficient Solutions label?
For the first time a label proves the economic profitability of solutions that protect the environment
To take the success of the solar-powered flight around the world further, the Solar Impulse Foundation is selecting 1,000 solutions that protect the environment in a profitable way and awarding them the Solar Impulse Efficient Solutions Label.
This label serves as a new and credible symbol that can be applied to products, processes and services and serves as a guarantee of quality to those looking to implement clean solutions, and affords a competitive edge to the innovators behind them.
Assessed by independent experts for their technological feasibility, environmental and socio-economic benefits, and economic profitability, a portfolio of these solutions will be brought to decision-makers to encourage them to adopt much more ambitious environmental targets and energy policies.
Benefits of being labelled as a Solar Impulse Efficient Solution
Today, thousands of solutions exist that can boost economic growth while preserving nature, but they are often hidden in start-ups or research labs. They remain unknown to decision makers and are not implemented at industry level. So few people realize that everyone can use them and how profitable they have become.”
Our label seeks to bridge the gap between ecology and economy, bringing together protection of the environment and financial viability to show that these solutions are not expensive fixes to problems, but rather opportunities for clean economic growth.
Startups or companies receiving the Label benefit from the credibility that comes with being associated to the Solar Impulse brand, and show that their solution has been assessed by independent experts.
The Solar Impulse Foundation, will actively communicate about Efficient Solutions on its website, to the media, to other members of the World Alliance for Efficient Solutions, as well as to targeted governments, companies and institutions through the portfolio of 1000 Efficient Solutions.
Selecting 1000 Efficient Solutions
By selecting 1000 Efficient Solutions, Bertrand Piccard seeks to demonstrate that solutions exist that are logical more than just ecological, that can create jobs and generate profit while also reducing polluting emissions and preserving natural resources.
The World Alliance for Efficient Solutions, founded under the auspices of the Solar Impulse Foundation, federates start-ups, companies, institutions, NGOs and investors to create synergies, share knowledge and build relationships that ultimately speed-up the implementation of clean and profitable solutions.
Any member of the World Alliance for Efficient Solutions can submit a solution, as long as it falls within the scope of our challenge. This means that it;
- must be a product, process, or service,
- have reached the maturity stage of at-scale prototype testing in a laboratory, and
- contributes to the achievement of at least one of the following five Sustainable Development Goals;
The solution will then, in collaboration with independent experts and renowned institutions, be assessed against a certified methodology based on the following criteria;
- Technological Feasibility – the solution is already commercialized on the market OR is based on a resilient technology or concept and is deemed to have the potential to be deployed and scaled-up in the real world vs. in a laboratory environment
- Environmental And Socio-economic Benefits – the solution has a direct positive impact on the environment combined with at least one direct or indirect socio-economic benefit, without any significant negative impact transferred.
- Profitability – The solution has reached breakeven point in the current market and is generating profits - or shows great promise of doing so in the next five years.
Those solutions that meet this criteria will be attributed the Solar Impulse Efficient Solutions Label, and be included in the portfolio of 1,000 Efficient Solutions to be presented to decision-makers at COP 24.