Developing the next innovators is a critical enabler in achieving our ambitious carbon emission reduction targets in the future. If every student in the world was exposed to the climate change challenge, a much larger and stronger innovator community could grow beyond what exists today. Named Destination Zero Carbon, the program hopes to build new skills, and help create the nesting ground for new industries into the 21st century. Its first pilot took place in Singapore last year involving over 500 local students. The program will involve 100 schools in Singapore during 2012, with plans to expand to South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Australia, India and the Middle East. In the United States, the program could be of strategic importance. Recent international indicators placed American students near the bottom of Western nations for STEM achievement, forming what many call a national STEM crisis. For the country to successfully compete globally on innovation, it must urgently bring its 12 year-olds back into the science lab. To make STEM more attractive, DZC classroom activities were designed to end with a design, fabrication, and racing event for self-built zero emission cars. Student must learn mission-critical physics and engineering concepts in order to win. The program is launching in the U.S. through Ten80 Education, which has the support of several important organizations including the United States Army. Emerging economies such as South Africa, India, and Brazil all have unsustainable energy demand that require innovation and an urgent implementation of low carbon technologies. Destination Zero Carbon recently made its debut on the African continent in partnership with Young Engineers and Scientists of Africa (YESA). This initiative is also rallying support in a UK program involving London schools, backed the London Mayor's office. Developed by two Singaporean companies, 3D Classworks and Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies their ready to go solution aims to inspire young people everywhere to become future low carbon science and technology leaders, and engage them in design, engineering and competitive programs that build engineering skills, technology awareness, and produce innovation. ABOUT 3DCLASSWORKS www.3dclassworks.com 3DCLASSWORKS is a Singapore based company that is focused on developing and implementing education programs that promote engineering literacy into classrooms for schools and tertiary institutions. Its vision is to be a world leading developer and provider of innovative educational training programs in maths, science, design and engineering. Its mission is to mould students into becoming imagineers of tomorrow, and prepare pupils with a dynamic learning mindset, accustomed to the latest technological know-how in order to live and work as effective global participants in this fast-moving technological age. ABOUT Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies Pte. Ltd. www.horizonfuelcell.com Headquartered in Singapore, Horizon's overall vision is a zero carbon society with hydrogen as a clean energy carrier and future fuel. Starting on a miniature scale, the company has begun enabling a number of zero emission fuel cell solutions across 35 countries simultaneously. Their solutions include electrical energy storage and distributed power generation, as well as novel infrastructure solutions for hydrogen. Horizon's end-goal is to make self-refueling capability a reality for every-day electric powered applications ranging from portable electronics to real-size vehicles. Although today's implementations are still in the infancy stage, one of Horizon's envisioned zero carbon solutions include using hydrogen-producing bacteria and organic waste as a hydrogen feedstock for personal hydrogen car refueling. |
