February 5, 2009, Playa Vista, CA – UC Irvine students Kyle Good and Bryan Le were crowned the winners of the X PRIZE Foundation’s “What’s Your Crazy Green Idea?” competition, receiving a $25,000 prize check from competition prize sponsor Prize Capital, during a ceremony held in El Segundo, CA at the corporate headquarters offices of BT Americas (BT, a foundation-wide partner of X PRIZE).

The students’ idea “The Capacitor Challenge” – a concept to develop a new storage medium, the “ultra capacitor” – generated the highest amount of public votes in the YouTube video contest, after being selected one of the final three entries by the X PRIZE Foundation.

The other two finalists were Jonathan Dreher from Cambridge, MA whose “Energy X PRIZE: Reduce Home Energy Usage” focused on reducing home energy consumption of American communities and Alan Silva from Roy, Utah whose “Energy Independence X PRIZE” looked at developing energy efficient homes that exist completely off the grid.

The competition invited the public to develop and post a two-minute video describing a concept for a potential X PRIZE in Energy and Environment. More than 130 videos were received and more than 4,200 people voted for the winner.

In keeping with the YouTube video theme, a special media package, with photos, press materials and video, has been created that captures inside moments from the day’s events – including the moment the “Capacitor Challenge” team learned they had won. Other elements of the video include a one-on-one interview with the winning team, a roundtable discussion with energy leaders and a chronicle of their journey to BT headquarters for the announcement.

Please visit http://www.xprize.org/crazy-green-idea to view and download the media package!

"We’re so excited to be the winners of the 'Crazy Green Idea' contest. It's an honor that seems too good to be true," said Kyle Good. "We’ll never forget this experience."

"I’ve always admired the X PRIZE Foundation and the way they’ve tackled some of humanity’s biggest challenges,” said Bryan Le. "I’m looking forward to seeing how our idea develops into an Energy and Environment X PRIZE."

Peter H. Diamandis, Chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation, presented the check to the winning team along with Lee Stein, Founder of Prize Capital. After the award ceremony, all three finalist teams, with the out-of-state teams present via teleconference, participated in a roundtable “think tank” discussion about their contest ideas as well as potential solutions on the current energy crisis. Energy experts Saul Griffith, CEO of Makani Power; Mark Bernstein, Managing Director of USC’s Energy Institute; Dr. Shahed, Corporate Fellow of Honeywell Turbo Technologies; and Neil Blakesley, Vice President Strategy & Marketing, BT Americas, were also present to lead the discussion.

“We were all impressed by the sheer number of ideas submitted and their level of sophistication. It truly demonstrates how important this issue is to the public at large,” said Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, Chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation. “Energy and the environment are areas of critical importance to us. I would like to thank Prize Capital for their sponsorship of this YouTube competition, and also thank both Vulcan Ventures Inc. and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation for their generosity in underwriting our general research into Energy & Environment X PRIZEs.”

“Prize Capital congratulates the winners of this event,” said Lee Stein, Founder of Prize Capital. “They tackled an issue in need of a significant breakthrough, presented it effectively using modern media, and demonstrated true entrepreneurial spirit. Offering prizes and capital gives ideas and entrepreneurs like these a chance, and we’re committed to applying both through our Prize Fund to solve the most pressing energy and environmental challenges of our time.”

About “The Capacitor Challenge” Team:
Second-year students at UC Irvine majoring in film/media studies and chemistry, the winning team learned about the “Crazy Green Idea” contest from Bryan Le, who was searching the Internet for online contests. Drawing inspiration from each other and UC Irvine Professor Diego Rosso, the “Ultimate Capacitor” was an obvious idea for the team who believed that their constant frustration with charging and throwing away batteries was something also commonly experienced by others. The team reflected on the rise of electric vehicles and considered the future role of batteries, beyond iPods and cell phones.

The team plans to spend the prize money on European study abroad programs, a personal spiritual trip to India, college tuition and other-related expenses.

ABOUT THE $25,000 “WHAT’S YOUR CRAZY GREEN IDEA?” VIDEO CONTEST
A competition created by the X PRIZE Foundation and sponsored by Prize Capital, LLC, “What’s Your Crazy Green Idea” asked the public audience to submit their best ideas for a potential Energy and Environment X PRIZE. To be considered, contestants needed to submit a two-minute video via YouTube.com that identified the specific prize idea, the Grand Challenge or world-wide problem that needs to be solved and how the prize idea could benefit humanity. Videos were judged on creativity, viability of concept, degree of the concept’s revolutionary impact and concept innovation and inventiveness. The X PRIZE Foundation selected three finalists of the 133 video submissions that were received. The final phase of the competition asked the public audience to vote on the top three videos to determine the winner. More than 4,200 votes were received.

ABOUT THE X PRIZE FOUNDATION
The X PRIZE Foundation is an educational nonprofit prize institute whose mission is to create radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. In 2004, the Foundation captured the world’s attention when the Burt Rutan-led team, backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, built and flew the world’s first private spaceship to win the $10 million Ansari X PRIZE for suborbital spaceflight. The Foundation has since launched the $10 million Archon X PRIZE for Genomics, the $30 million Google Lunar X PRIZE, and the $10 million Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE. The Foundation and its partner BT Global Services are creating prizes in Space and Ocean Exploration, Life Sciences, Energy & Environment, Education and Global Development. The Foundation is widely recognized as the leading model for fostering innovation through competition. For more information, please visit www.xprize.org.

ABOUT PRIZE CAPITAL, LLC
Prize Capital’s mission is to promote the preservation of rich ecological habitat areas around the world, by investing in environmentally sustainable economic development, new technologies and biodiversity preservation. Through its Earth 2.0 programs, Prize Capital combines prizes and capital to solve global energy and environmental challenges, for example, renewable energy, water or deforestation. The company’s new financing mechanism combines inducement prize competitions with parallel equity option investment funds to provide capital for innovators to achieve technological breakthroughs and opens market access to early stage environmental opportunities for investors. Prize Capital’s first Earth 2.0 program is a prize and fund for sustainable decentralized renewable energy. For further information, visit www.prizecapital.net.