Pick a problem to solve.

**Sponsored by Marin Clean Energy (MCE)** — Marin's not-for-profit, community-governed clean-electricity provider. ## The problem statement **Find a clean-energy or climate problem in Marin — and build something that fixes it.** Look around your home, your school, or your community for a place where energy is wasted, could go electric, or where clean energy is hard to access or understand. Then design and build a *working solution* — a hardware device, a hardware-plus-software system, or an app tied to real energy or climate data. You find the problem; we fund the materials and mentor the build. The point is a working thing you can demo, not a slideshow. ## Ideas (pick your own) Home/school energy monitoring that names what wastes power; a handheld thermal tool that finds where a building leaks heat; a neighborhood heat-and-air sensor that maps which Marin blocks run hottest and makes the case for trees or cooling; an electrification or EV-charging access helper. Hardware + code + an AI/ML brain, aimed at a real problem, buildable at single-site scale. ## The constraint A real, working build you prototype, demo, and document — one core function done well, kept small on purpose so it's buildable by the deadline. Parts funding is provided to selected teams (up to ~$350 in materials). ## What you submit A short YC-style pitch (written application + brief video/slides): the problem, what you'll build, who it helps, the parts you need. Selected teams sign a contract, get materials funding + GSV mentorship, and document the build to a final demo. ## Judging criteria 1. **Impact** — does it meaningfully help clean energy, electrification, or carbon reduction in the community? 2. **Feasibility** — can this team actually build a working version with the funding and mentorship provided? 3. **Team strength** — does the team have the drive and ability to ship it? ## Who can enter Middle and high school students (solo or small teams) who **live, work, or go to school in Marin County.** ## Attribution *Sponsored by Marin Clean Energy — your local not-for-profit clean-electricity provider.*

**Sponsored by Ava Community Energy** — the not-for-profit, locally governed electricity provider for Alameda County and parts of San Joaquin County, working toward 100% carbon-free electricity by 2030. ## The problem statement **Find an energy problem in your community — and build something that fixes it.** Look around your home, your school, or your city for a place where energy is wasted, dirty, hard to get, or hard to understand. Then design and build a *working solution*: a hardware device, a hardware-plus-software system, or an app that connects to real energy data or devices. You find the problem. We fund what you need and mentor the build. The point is a working thing you can demo at the end, not a slideshow or a mockup. ## Why this matters Energy is everywhere in your community and most of it is invisible: power getting wasted, gas-powered stuff that could run electric, clean energy nobody knows how to access, pollution and heat that hit some blocks harder than others. This competition asks you to make a dent in that at the scale of one real, buildable problem — spot it yourself, then build something. One of our favorite directions is using STEM to gather data that doesn't exist yet, then using that data to advocate for a real change with your school, your city, or your neighbors. ## Worked examples (pick your own) You don't have to build any of these — they show the range of what counts. Each is a real hardware build plus a real coding project with an AI/ML brain, aimed at a real energy problem. 1. **WattWhisperer** — one clamp-on current sensor + an ESP32/Raspberry Pi; a small on-device ML model learns each appliance's electrical signature and names what's running in real time (non-intrusive load monitoring). Turns a single power-bill number into a list of what to fix or electrify. ~$50–110. 2. **HeatHunter** — an ESP32 + MLX90640 thermal sensor in a handheld camera; a model finds the "leak zones" where a building bleeds heating/cooling and ranks the worst. Point it at a window and the draft shows up as a blue river. ~$80–110. 3. **BlockHeat** *(data-to-advocacy)* — an ESP32 with temp/humidity, PM2.5, and GPS on a bike/backpack; a model interpolates a full block-level heat-and-pollution map from your readings and flags the hottest, dirtiest blocks. Take it to a city council meeting or to Ava to argue for trees, cooling, or electrification help. ~$130–300. Microcontrollers, sensors, cameras, and the ML that ties them together are all in scope. Judges care about the idea, whether you actually built it, and the real impact you can show — not how expensive the parts are. ## The constraint (keep it small) It has to be a real, working build you prototype, demo, and document. Funding is limited, so keep the scale small on purpose: one core function done well; parts stay inside the grant (up to ~$350 in materials); single-site scale (a room, a home, a classroom, one charger) you can actually build and demo by the deadline. ## What you submit A short pitch — a written application plus a brief video or slide pitch (YC-style): the problem you found, what you'll build, who it helps, and the parts you need. Selected teams sign a contract, receive project materials funding plus mentorship from GSV, and document the build through to a final working demo. ## Judging criteria 1. **Impact** — does it meaningfully help clean energy, electrification, or carbon reduction in the community? 2. **Feasibility** — can this team actually build a working version with the funding and mentorship provided? 3. **Team strength** — does the team have the drive and ability to ship it? Ava provides final sign-off on the judges' recommendation. ## Who can enter Middle and high school students (solo or small teams) who **live, work, or go to school in Ava Community Energy's service territory** — Alameda County and the Ava-served parts of San Joaquin County (Fremont, Union City, Newark, Hayward, Oakland, Berkeley, Dublin, Pleasanton, Livermore, Stockton, Tracy). ## Attribution *Sponsored by Ava Community Energy — your local not-for-profit electricity provider for Alameda and San Joaquin County.* GSV produces co-branded recognition (social posts crediting Ava and a short video or blog post featuring the competition and winning builds); Ava is invited to demo day.