The disappearance of bees is a global phenomenon. The problem is that people who are take notice only after the ‘Colony Collapse Disorder’ (CCD) takes place. We aimed to solve this problem with ‘data’. The core of this idea is to detect the signs of colony deaths beforehand, only with pure data and no human intervention. The Solar Beehive is a smart beehive that collects and analyzes even the smallest data that affects the growth of honeybees that no one has collected before to identify the signs of colony deaths preemptively.

‘Colony Collapse Disorder’ (CCD), an abnormal phenomenon in which honeybees disappear at once, is a global issue. In particular, about 7.8 billion honeybees disappeared in Korea last year (2021) alone. The problem is that people only take notice after CCD takes place, so it is impossible to take preventative measures. The disappearance of honeybees is not just the apiary’s problem. From 90% of wild flora that relies on bees to reproduce to the fauna and humans that feeds on them, it is a crisis of the entire biodiversity. We thought: if we can identify the symptoms of bee deaths, couldn’t we prevent CCD? The key to the problem solution we devised was ‘data’.

The Solar Beehive is a smart hive that collects even the smallest data that can affect the honeybees so that it can take preventative measures before mass honeybee death. Based on the fact that bees are temperature-sensitive creatures that are impacted by the climate (global apiarists, the UN, and Greenpeace claimed climate change as major cause for CCD) total of 8 categories of data were collected to observe the symptoms of bee deaths and take preemptive actions.

Innovation of the Solar Beehive is the ‘interpretation’ of data and the ‘distribution’ of data. We did not just collect data, but compared and analyzed the bee activity, the external climate, and the environment inside the hive to analyze which environment causes the honeybee population to decline. Also, all data collected from the Solar Beehive was disclosed on the web so that anyone can utilize our data for their honeybee research.

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.

We enabled to view the data collected from the Solar Beehive on an app in real-time. Through this app, we analyzed the bee movements in the hive and identified the factors that affect the honeybee population. By observing the patterns in which environment the bee population decreases, we predicted and prevented the loss of the honeybee population preemptively.

One of the important roles of the Solar Beehive is to share the data collected. We disclosed all data collected from the Solar Beehive on a website so that anyone who studies the honeybees can access our data.

The Solar Beehive was launched on World Bee Day in 2022, and 40,000 honeybee population increased to 100,000 in two months. Based on collected data, a paper was published regarding the cause of honeybee extinction. (Published in November 2022) 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.

The Solar Beehive is donated as educational material to the Korea National University of Agriculture and Fisheries so that future beekeepers can research smart apiary practices and honeybee conservation.

This was created with support of Hanwha, the world’s leading solar panel manufacturer. Hanwha has contributed to the Earth’s environment yearly with solar energy campaigns, and supported this campaign for that endeavor. Post-campaign, positive mentions about Hanwha increased 2.6 times and strengthened their image as a sustainable company striving to preserve biodiversity.

Due to the climate crisis, Korea was not an exception to severe climate anomalies. At the time of the campaign ideation, the death of 7.8 billion temperature-sensitive honeybees from an abnormal climate was a critical issue. This problem is both a threat to biodiversity and an economic menace. The apiary industry accounts for 400 million USD in size, and the mass deaths of honeybees by the climate crisis would eventually lead to the collapse of beekeeping farms in Korea.