Block-E is a product system that offers a new way to pay with clean energy. At the core of the system is a powerbank, that acts as a wallet and that can be charged while cycling. From there, energy can be transferred via the Dock: a payment system which allows you make transactions with your green currency.
What’s your story?
We are a team of art and design students with a great mix of creativity, business insights and design engineering. Our different fields of expertise come together perfectly in this project and we can learn a lot from each other. All of us are deeply connected to the problem of climate change and we want to make a real impact.
” Going back to the core, we found the real exciting potential of our idea: it can make clean energy the new currency. “
How did your project come about?
We met at the Clean Energy Design Jam in Amsterdam and we got our initial idea during the workshop: Block-e, a powerbank that you can charge by cycling. The powerbank can easily transfer energy to other powerbanks and products. We really believed in the idea and our new created team. Going back to the core, we found the real exciting potential of our idea: it can make clean energy the new currency. We worked out the details of the concept and entered the Challenge, because we think Block-e can make a real impact in helping Amsterdam embed clean energy into the city.
Team of Block-E
What was your reaction to finding out your project had been selected?
We were thrilled! We immediately called each other to celebrate as we believe this is a great opportunity. We learned a lot from the feedback by the Selection Committee and we quickly went back to work mode: as designers we always want to improve our ideas. So we did: talk to experts, think about the whole ecosystem, redesign the form and interaction of the product and create better visuals.
“Creativity and design can help making all the aspects of the transition to clean energy insightful and help integrate real solutions that people will actually use.”
In your opinion, why is creativity important in climate action and the transition to clean energy?
We live in the Anthropocene, a new era where human actions have great consequences on the climate. We need to adjust and therefore try to eliminate different aspects that cause climate change. The transition to clean energy is a step in this process. Creativity and design can help making all the aspects of the transition to clean energy insightful and help integrate real solutions that people will actually use. Design also has the ability to help people work together, which is important, because together we can make the difference.
Where do you see your project one year from now?
Within a year we hope to have made some serious steps towards the production of our product. We will be working on expanding our network and finding relevant stakeholders to promote our vision of the future. We hope to have inspired and will continue to inspire people to be more conscious about their energy use. Because we believe that in the near future, Amsterdam could run on clean energy. Block-e will be an inspiring first step in realizing this vision.