U.S. college students recognized for sustainable
environmental solutions
WASHINGTON, D.C., June 20, 2013 -- The U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) announced that seven university and college teams received
the People, Prosperity and Planet (P3) Award for their innovative
solutions to some of today's toughest public health and
environmental challenges.
EPA's P3 Award competition was held at the 9th Annual National
Sustainable Design Expo. Each award winning team qualifies to receive a
grant of up to $90,000 to further develop their design and potentially
bring it to the marketplace. Previous P3 award winners have started
successful businesses and are globally marketing their technologies.
"This competition plays an important role in inspiring the next
generation of scientists and engineers to better understand, and through
innovation and ingenuity more effectively solve, our world's complex
environmental problems," said Lek Kadeli, principal deputy administrator
for the EPA's Office of Research and Development. "The P3 program gives
this nation's students the opportunity to apply their creative ideas to
real world situations and protect our nation's environment in a more
sustainable fashion."
Winners of this year's awards are:
Loyola University of Chicago for developing a greener way,
through a
wetland and a distillation process, to treat and reuse byproducts of
biodiesel.
University of Massachusetts Lowell for creating nontoxic,
biodegradable
surfactants from fruit peels and algae, and seeing how they are
effective.
Radford University for designing a naturally-occurring coating
that would allow sand to absorb water pollutants, such as arsenic and
cadmium.
San Jose State University for using saw dust instead of
plastic to create inexpensive building materials, customized for local
climates, with 3D printer technology.
Georgia Southern University for further innovating the Low
Temperature Combustion diesel engine, to operate on locally sourced
n-buthanol and cottonseed oil; thus designing a diesel engine that could
create even lower NOx and soot emissions.
Cornell University for designing a simple, low-cost,
lower-maintenance water
filtration device for Honduras communities, using a stacked-rapid
sand filter.
Cornell University for evaluating and improving cookstove fuel
resources in Kenyan communities, by burning solid fuel without oxygen,
which can create biochar for soil enrichment.
This year's competition featured approximately 300 student innovators
showcasing their sustainable projects designed to protect people's
health, the environment, encourage economic growth, and use natural
resources more efficiently. A panel of expert judges convened by the
American Association for the Advancement of Science recommended the
winners out of 45 teams following two days of judging. The teams that
competed this year proposed potential solutions to worldwide
environmental problems including in many developing countries.
Every year, the National Sustainable Design Expo features EPA's P3
competition and also highlights other sustainable initiatives, programs,
and technologies developed and implemented by nonprofit organizations,
government, and state agencies. This year's expo was co-sponsored by the
American Society of Civil Engineers and Engineers without Borders, USA.
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