Press Dispensary - July 11, 2007 - The challenge to invent a renewable energy generator (REG) that will provide 90% of the UK's domestic electricity needs for free - and give the winner prize money of £100,000 and their place in history - is launching at noon tomorrow (Thursday 12 July) at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park Hotel, London. Known as the Climate Change Challenge (TM) (www.climatechangechallenge.org), the scheme is the brainchild of not for
profit community interest group, UK 8020.
Backed by the likes of Madonna as Patron and Trevor Baylis OBE, the Climate Change Challenge encourages budding British inventors to devise a REG that will retail at a target price of £500 - currently the average cost of six months' domestic energy.
The Climate Change Challenge runs alongside UK 8020's other humanitarian initiative, Pledge4REG (TM), which aims to help eradicate the problem of fuel poverty by inviting people to pledge £500 to buy a REG for anyone of their choice (parent, relative, elderly friend, etc.) over the invention period. As it is a pledge, no money needs to change hands until the Climate Change Challenge's winning invention goes on sale, giving ample time for pledgers to save funds.
Robert Lee, founder of UK 8020, says: "The Climate Change Challenge is intended to address the problem of fuel affordability in the UK while also helping the environment by creating a REG that can be mass-produced and marketed. We are awaiting some interesting inventions and ideas from the nation of inventors out there."
Trevor Baylis, OBE, inventor of the wind-up radio, says: "This is a call for all inventors to start applying their minds to the challenge of developing a renewable energy generator. If you can solve a problem, you are on your way to becoming an inventor.
"For example, the simple addition of a wind-up mechanism to a radio allowed vital information to be broadcast to areas affected by natural disasters, epidemics and war. Who would have thought that wind-up technology, which has been with us for hundreds of years, would prove to be such an effective tool for the improvement of peoples' lives?"
He adds: "My invention saved lives - but it took years to convince others of its capabilities. Now Climate Change Challenge is offering £100,000 for a similar idea - one which provides a basic need, but will profoundly affect the lives of ordinary people, as mine did. An inexpensive way of generating energy could improve the lives of millions, and we would no longer have to read the appalling statistics about the death of our own citizens dying from lack of heat."
To enter the challenge, visit ClimateChangeChallenge.org
http://www.climatechangechallenge.org) or help someone afford their energy by pledging at Pledge4reg.org (http://www.pledge4reg.org).
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Notes for editors
For further information, please contact:
Robert Lee, founder director
Tel: 01243 670637
Email: robertlee@UK8020.org
Site: www.UK8020.org
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