Students catch EPA's "green wave"
EPA has awarded $10,000 each to 58 student teams to develop sustainable designs that have the potential for commercialization.
Students at Keene State College in New Hampshire will build a "closed energy loop" where biodiesel fuel, made from waste grease, will be manufactured and used in vehicles within the same community. The students make up one of 58 university teams that will use money from the U.S. EPA's P3 (People, Prosperity, Planet) sustainability design competition.
The agency has provided each team with $10,000 to work on their designs; they will then compete for six P3 awards that come with additional funding of up to $75,000 per project, awarded by outside organizations. The prize money is intended for use by the students to further develop and field test their projects and, eventually, bring them to the marketplace.
Several past P3 winners have seen their designs become small businesses that improve sustainability in communities in India and Africa. One former P3 winner now owns a center that sells energy efficiency supplies and runs a shop where cars are converted to run on vegetable oil, according to EPA. This year's designs will be demonstrated on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., April 20–22.
The students at Keene State College will make a connection to human health by evaluating biodiesel on the basis of real-world occupational and environmental exposures. Students from Gonzaga University in Washington state will develop a process to make the production and use of ceramic water filters easier for the people living in Porto-Novo, Benin.
The initial P3 judging is carried out by a panel created by the National Academy of Sciences, and EPA officials decide the winners. The teams are eligible for a second pool of funding provided by partners including nongovernmental groups, such as the nonprofit Green Building Initiative and the nonprofit International Center for Appropriate and Sustainable Technology, which select winners according to their own criteria. The P3 competition was launched in 2004 to encourage university students to design projects that can provide healthier local environments and encourage the creation of small businesses.
