Renew Our Schools (Focus on Energy + KEEP)
Six-week head-to-head competition where schools install an eGauge real-time electricity monitor and compete to cut kWh use vs baseline. Points awarded for energy reduction AND completed actions (audits, advisor meetings). Cash prizes; aggregate kWh saved exceeded 120,000 in some districts.
Statewide competition pits Wisconsin schools (and by extension their districts/towns) against each other in real-time kWh leaderboards.
Each school forms a mixed student-staff Energy Team; the team must mobilize teachers, custodians, cafeteria staff and pupils to switch off, change behavior, host assemblies - the win depends on the whole building cooperating.
Concrete, sensor-instrumented, twice-yearly cadence with real cash prizes - a much sharper variant than Eco-Schools and rarely cited outside Wisconsin.
Others in the same family
Climathon (EIT Climate-KIC)
24-48 hour citizen hackathon run by EIT Climate-KIC. Each participating city sets its own local climate challenge; teams of citizens, students, and entrepreneurs develop solutions. Best team in each city receives Climate-KIC coaching post-event. Over 30,000 participants since 2015.
STADTRADELN (City Cycling)
21-day national bicycle-kilometer competition organized by Klima-Bündnis (Climate Alliance). Over 1.2 million participants in 2024-2025. Citizens log kilometers via app or website; municipalities and councils form teams.
2zero Klimathon (Mannheim, Glienicke, Hufeisen-Region, Schleswig-Holstein)
6-week 'Klimathon' run by Berlin-based 2zero (formerly Klimakompass). Each week features 4-6 challenges across themes (mobility, food, energy, consumption, digital, leisure). Mannheim ran as a CoLAB pilot under the EU '100 climate-neutral cities by 2030' Mission starting Jan 2025.
Klima-Taler
App by Berlin greentech Blacksquared. Every 5 kg of CO2 saved (via cycling, transit, energy-saving) earns one digital Klima-Taler redeemable at participating local retailers. In 2024 the city of Leer in East Frisia saved 291.3 tons of CO2 and topped the national ranking, with 54 partner shops and 10,000+ redeemed Talers.
Klima-Taler
City-branded climate app powered by motiontag that auto-detects walking/cycling/public-transport trips and converts CO2 saved into 'Klima-Taler' coins redeemable at local pools, museums, shops. Each participating city gets its own white-label instance; users join open teams.
STADTRADELN (CITY CYCLING)
Run by Climate Alliance, a 21-day campaign where municipalities sign up to compete on per-capita and absolute cycling kilometers. Mandatory team affiliation; tracked via the CITY CYCLING app GPS or paper log.