Student Teams Receive Funding from EPA for Sustainable Technology Competition
The EPA has awards $15,000 grants to 45 college teams, a total of $675,000, in phase I of its People, Prosperity and the Planet annual student design competition, which is geared toward sustainable technology.
The EPA has awards nearly $700,000 in awards to 45 college teams that are participating in phase I of its People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) annual student design competition. Each grant will be applied toward the designing and developing sustainable technologies to help protect people’s health and the environment while promoting economic development.
Examples of team projects this year include a design for fog harvesting technologies to provide clean water and reduced pollution in underdeveloped communities, a prototype system to improve building energy performance through enhancing heat transmission and solar heat gain, and a module that can improve the efficiency of solar energy collectors.
The P3 competition is an annual event that will begin by the awarded grants being used by student teams to implement their proposed technologies. The proposals highlight the team’s technology and its potential for improving quality of life, promoting economic development, and protecting the planet.
“This year’s P3 teams are made up of emerging environmental leaders who are part of the future of environmental and public health protection,” said Lek Kadeli, principal deputy assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Research and Development. “These P3 grants encourage the growth of small businesses focused on developing innovative technologies to combat environmental issues.”
The student teams are allowed to work on their designs for eight months before taking their designs to Washington, D.C. where they participate in EPA’s National Sustainable Design Expo. A panel of scientific experts judges the designs during the event. Winners receive a P3 award and recommendation for a second phase grant of up to $90,000 to further develop their designs and prepare them for the marketplace.
EPA is currently accepting applications for P3 awards for the 2013-2014 academic year through Dec. 11, 2012.