News
Welcome to the next Helsinki Energy Challenge webinar on 20 August!
The next Helsinki Energy Challenge webinar will be organised on 20 August. The webinar will support willing participants to the Helsinki Energy Challenge to team up and to create high-impact, winning proposals. Webinar participants will have the opportunity to give a three-minute pitch about their idea or solution, as well as find partners with whom they can finalize their competition... Read more »
The heating challenge cities must solve to fight global warming
The Mayor of Helsinki, Jan Vapaavuori, writes in World Economic Forum’s blog about the importance of solving the heating challenge in cities to fight global warming.
University students brainstorm future of urban heating: “Out-of-the-box thinking is key”
A team of Aalto University students has won accolades from their instructors for their idea to decarbonise Helsinki’s heating supply. They did so as part of a Thermal Energy Storage course this spring that asked its participants to come up with a solution for the Helsinki Energy Challenge.
Welcome to the Helsinki Energy Challenge livestream on 16 June!
Join our live Helsinki Energy Challenge broadcast on 16 June at 18:00 EEST/ 17:00 CEST (UCT +3) to learn more about this exciting opportunity.
You will hear what the competition is all about, an outline of the key competition phases, and instructions for how to submit an entry. Key information on the current heating system in Helsinki will also be shared. Mayor of Helsinki Jan Vapaavuori will open the broadcast. Other speakers: Laura Uuttu-Deschryvere, Project Director of Helsinki Energy Challenge and Kaisa-Reeta Koskinen... Read more »
Follow Helsinki Energy Challenge livestreams on the Helsinki Channel on May 4th and June 16th
The City of Helsinki will hold two live broadcasts in the coming months to answer the questions about the challenge, for example: Why is the competition being organised? What do I need to do to participate? and What are the different steps of the competition process? Energy experts will also provide key facts about Helsinki’s current heating system. In fact, you will learn everything ... Read more »
Press release: Helsinki Energy Challenge continues – registration phase prolonged
The coronavirus does not stop Helsinki's climate work. The schedule for the international Helsinki Energy Challenge has been altered due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the competition process remains intact despite the changes in the schedule.
Helsinki wants to offer a platform for new, sustainable and innovative solutions, and, on 27 February, the City opened the international Helsinki Energy Challenge. The competition seeks to find solutions, by means of which the city can be heated in a sustainable way without coal and with as little biomass as possible during the upcoming decades. The grand prize of the competition is o... Read more »
Questions sent before 20 March have been answered
The first clarifying questions to the organizer, sent before 20 March 2020, have now been answered.
The application phase of Helsinki Energy Challenge extended until 30 September
Due to the current situation caused by coronavirus COVID-19, the application phase of Helsinki Energy Challenge has been extended until 30 September. This is because we want to give innovators around the world time to adapt to this new situation we are all in. We will also add webinars and other online events to the program. Updated information on the webinars and other online event... Read more »
Press release: Helsinki searches sustainable city heating solutions: Global one million euro challenge competition launches today
In a drastic turn to eliminate coal as the main source of district heating, The City of Helsinki today kicks off the Helsinki Energy Challenge – a global one million euro competition to find the future of urban heating. With the aim to find a solution sustainable in the long term, ideas presented must not rely on fossil fuel or biomass fired heating.
With the aim of becoming carbon-neutral by 2035 and with coal banned from energy production in Finland from 2029, Helsinki is strongly dedicated to the decarbonisation of cities. Several cities already have ambitious plans to reduce carbon emissions. The City of Helsinki takes things one step further in declaring that it will not rely on biomass-fired heating, making the city’s energy... Read more »
