The Patents for Humanity: Green Energy category awards recognize those who are responding rapidly to the challenges of climate change by developing green energy sources using game-changing technologies. An awards ceremony honoring the winners was held Tuesday, December 3, 2024, in Washington, D.C.
Award recipients:
Hydropower
Emrgy Inc.
Atlanta, Georgia
Emergy, Inc. developed a hydrokinetic technology through innovative hardware and software systems that enable distributed renewable power generation, transforming non-powered water conveyance infrastructure into clean energy sources.
Hydrokinetic Energy Corp.
Key West, Florida
Hydrokinetic Energy Corp. developed hydrokinetic turbines for use in renewable sources with flowing water, including ocean, tidal, and river currents using a unique Flow Acceleration Technology.
Natel Energy
Alameda, California
Natel Energy developed FishSafe Restoration Hydro Turbines—high-performance hydro-turbines runners enabling fish to pass through turbines without harm, preserving biodiversity while generating reliable energy.
Solar
SPECMAT, Inc.
Warren, Ohio
SpecMat developed an innovative technology, called the Room Temperature Wet Chemistry Growth (RTWCG) process, that allows for solar cell production to be streamlined. It increases throughput by 40%, eliminates hot processes, uses less electricity, and delivers higher efficiency over traditional technologies.
Wind
Wind Harvest International, Inc.
Davis, California
Wind Harvest International, Inc. developed new, utility-scale wind turbines to use in mid-level wind resources that are too turbulent for traditional horizontal axis wind turbines, including the understories of the windiest wind farms around the world and in other places large turbines cannot go.
Hydrogen
ZeroAvia, Inc.
(Hollister, California)
ZeroAvia, Inc. developed scalable hydrogen and electric propulsion technologies to drastically reduce environmental harm and lower costs compared to traditional aviation powertrains.
Biofuels
University South Florida: T2CE Biofuels
Tampa, Florida
T2CE Biofuels developed a way to convert everyday waste material—such as household garbage, solid waste, agricultural waste, and sewage—into diesel, marine, and aviation fuel.
Other technology
Pirl Technology, Inc.
Rockville, Maryland
Pirl developed a next-generation EV charger that is comprised of easily accessible and removal internal parts, thus lowering the cost of maintenance, increasing uptime, and generating less e-waste.
More information
- Previous recipients: 2022 awards, 2020 awards, 2018 awards, 2016 awards, 2015 awards, and 2013 awards