Globally, the honeybee population is drastically declining. Environmental organizations (UN, Greenpeace, etc) name climate change as its biggest cause. Bees, as temperature-sensitive creatures, could not adapt to the unprecedented abnormal climate. The extinction of honeybees affects not just 90% of wild flora, but also the animals and people who feed on those, and further the entire biodiversity. To spearhead the conservation of the honeybee population, we utilized solar panels to protect the honeybees from climate change by manufacturing a smart beehive: the Solar Beehive. With the Solar Beehive, we contribute to the Earth’s biodiversity, and eventually remark the B2B brand Hanwha as a sustainable brand to the public, raising the favorability and the reputation.

The Solar Beehive is a smart beehive optimized to protect honeybees from abnormal climates. What’s special about the Solar Beehive is the ‘bee-friendly design’. From the bee entrance size, depth of feed container, temperature-humidity controller position, and the exterior design, everything was designed to be ‘bee-friendly’ so that honeybee can thrive in an optimal environment.

Four smart devices (Water & Food supply / Temperature & humidity control / CO2 concentration control / Hornet intrusion detection & blocking) were installed to provide the best honeybee habitat. All electrical power for these features is sourced from the solar panels installed on the exterior roof, without emitting carbon.

We wanted the Solar Beehive to not stop at just increasing the honeybee population in Korea. We displayed collected data from the Solar Beehive on the website so that anyone in the world can access our data for honeybee

The Solar Beehive collects a total of 8 categories of data. (1. Honeybee entry count / 2. Beehive interior temperature / 3. Interior humidity / 4. Interior CO2 concentration / 5. Exterior climate / 6. Fine dust concentration / 7. Hornet invasion / 8. Beehive weight)

The originality of data collected by the Solar Beehive lies on ‘Pattern Observation’. Rather than simply collecting the temperature, humidity, and climate data, we compare and analyze the external climate, the internal environment of the hive, and real-time honeybee population changes (the population changes are detected by the number of honeybees’ entry and the weight of the hive).

The Solar Beehive appropriately adjusts the interior temperature and humidity according to the collected data, supplies water and sugar when feeding activity is low, and blocks the entrance when the hornet’s frequency is detected to protect the hornet invasion and prevent the bee population loss.

The purpose was to give bees the optimal environment regardless of climate. We studied bee habits by interviewing experts, and then selected vital factors (temperature, humidity, food) to select automatic control features.

For optimal environment, the Solar Beehive has temperature & humidity control and a ventilation system. To prevent the invasion of hornet, which overpopulated due to global warming, the entrance is blocked when hornet frequency is detected. All devices were installed to not interfere with honeybee behavior and feed container was made to be 0.5cm deep to accommodate bee size.

To observe changes in population, a sensor was installed to count the honeybee movement at the entrance.

-6 months in feature selection, development, and production. (Production period: 2021 December-2022 May)

-6 months in exterior design and manufacture. (Design period: 2021 December-2022 February, Production period: 2022 March-May)

-The beehive was launched May 20, 2022 and operational to this day.

- The Solar Beehive proved its effectiveness in honeybee conservation. Starting with government agency, the Rural Development Administration which overlooks national apiary industry, beekeepers use this nationwide to prevent honeybee extinction.

- This was donated to the Korea National University of Agriculture and Fisheries for Industrial Entomology major department so that future beekeepers can research smart apiary practices and honeybee conservation.

- The Solar Beehive was presented at the world’s largest agricultural exhibition, ‘2022 Fieldays’, and the ‘2023 World Economic Forum in Davos’ as an excellent example of biodiversity conservation.

- Documentation film of design and the production this campaign recorded 39,211,843 views, accounting for 85% of the Korean population. Remarkably, majority of viewers were millennials and Gen Zs, who are interested in environmental issues.

- 98% being positive mentions on Solar Panel and Hanwha.

- Post campaign, positive mentions about Hanwha increased 2.6 times.