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Competition Challenges Students to Develop Environmentally-Friendly Technology
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Adam Phillips
VOA News
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Competition Challenges Students to Develop Environmentally-Friendly Technology By Adam Phillips Washington 19 May 2006 Phillips report (MP3) - Download 1.01 MB Phillips report (Real) - Download 670 k Listen to Phillips report (Real)
With our increased awareness of the planet's limited natural resources, it is more important than ever that essential products - such as housing, energy sources and water sanitation systems - be built and used in environmentally-friendly ways. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency holds an annual nationwide competition to encourage college students to research, develop and design scientific and technical solutions to these sustainability challenges. Semi-finalists exhibit their entries on the National Mall, and winners receive small development grants. Appalachian State's Terra Currie (far right) brought along some Appalachian musicians to help draw attention to her team's bio-diesel powered truckStudents from Appalachian State University drove to the Sustainable Design Competition in a multicolored truck powered by bio-diesel fuel.
Terra Currie, a member of the school's prizewinning development team, explains that the bio-diesel fuel is made from used vegetable oil, lye and methanol, and that making it can get a bit messy. 'If you are making it at home you can get oil on you,' she says. 'You have to filter stuff out of oil. If you're using waste vegetable oil from restaurants, which is what we've done, you have to clean the oil, strain it and get the chunks out of it, then you have your chemical reaction and you heat it.' Currie adds that, while people can do this at home 'People don't maybe because we can go to the gas pumps and get whatever our fuel is so much easier.' She acknowledges that bio-diesel is not a complete answer to our fuel needs 'But it's a bridge to work from to get our fuel reliance and make something locally to supplement our use.' Terra Currie and her team were among the dozens of exhibitors demonstrating and explaining their sustainable designs to students, tourists, competition judges, and each other. It's all part of P-3 the People, Prosperity and the Planet Student Design Competition for Sustainability. Margaret Garcia and her team from Pennsylvania's Lafayette College won a grant to develop their design for a water distribution and sanitation system. Tiffany Geklinski and Margaret Garcia of Lafayette College demonstrate their water filtering system with a model'Without clean water, you limit your chances of survival with water borne illnesses,' she says. 'Sanitation is another big issue. Just keeping your environment clean and protecting your drinking water.
These things are critical for a healthy lifestyle.' Garcia and her team designed a two-pipe system to filter the natural arsenic from a mountain spring used by a rural village in the Central American nation of Honduras. Garcia says the team is also educating the community 'on watershed management to keep the water nice and clean at the source, (and) conservation, so you use a good amount of water but you don't 'go crazy' with it.' Garcia's colleagues also teach locals how to maintain the system once it is built. 'Because it's the community's project,' she says. 'So we want them to take 'ownership' of it and be able to maintain it from now until forever, basically.' There was an unmistakable whiff of idealism among the young designers at the EPA Competition. But, according to George Gray, who directs the agency's Office of Research and Development, these projects are also designed to make money in the real marketplace. 'We have to think about efficiency, we have to think about innovations and we have to think about economic competitiveness... This is about solutions!' says Gray. 'If we want the American people and if we want the people around the world to take this up, we've got to make it something that works for them.' Gray points proudly four new small businesses that are running from last year's competition. 'So these are not just ideas that are pie in the sky,' he says. 'These are things that are out there that can help people and make a difference today.' Michael MurrayMichael Murray is running one of those small businesses. He was a student at Oberlin College on Ohio two years ago when his team presented a computerized system that could monitor water and electricity use and waste generation in a so-called 'green,' environmentally sound building on campus.
With an award of $10,000, the team refined their product and, last year, garnered an additional $75,000 from the EPA for use by Oberlin College. The college then hired Murray's small new company to track energy use in 20 of the college's 1950s era dormitories, hoping to identify ways to save money while saving energy. 'And so we instrumented these buildings and we created a dorm energy competition. So dorms would compete against one another to see who could reduce their electricity use the most,' he explains. 'And what we found is the dorms with real time monitoring, where they had immediate information feedback, reduced their electricity use significantly more than the dorms that did not have that feedback.' Another approach to sustainability on campus will come from one of this year's winners. A team from Stanford University will design, build and operate what they call 'The Green Dorm.' The facility, with residential, laboratory and common space, will allow the students to explore both sustainable building technologies and sustainable living habits. Other winners include a design using natural fiber and other bio-composite materials for load-bearing elements in buildings, an environmentally-friendly way to create compounds with promising anti-cancer activity, and an interactive website for students and teachers that conveys the principles of whole systems design. E-mail This Article Print Version |
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EPA P3 Award Winners Announced at the 2006 National Sustainable Design Expo
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George Gray, Assistant Administrator for U.S. EPA's Office of Research and Development, has announced winners of EPA's 2nd Annual P3 Awards -- People, Prosperity, and the Planet. Six student teams from Appalachian State University, University of Michigan, Lafayette College, Portland State University, University of Massachusetts -- Lowell, and Stanford University won the awards by competing at EPA's National Sustainable Design Expo. P3 is a partnership between the public and private sectors to achieve economic prosperity while protecting the natural systems of the planet and providing a higher quality of life. The P3 competition and awards provide grants to teams of college students to research, develop, and design sustainable solutions to environmental challenges.
P3 highlights people, prosperity, and the planet -- the three pillars of sustainability -- as the next step beyond P2 or pollution prevention. The P3 Competition consists of two phases. In Phase I, student teams compete for P3 grants and the winning recipients are awarded $10,000 to research and develop their projects during the academic year. Phase II happens in the following spring when all P3 grantees are invited to Washington, D.C. to compete for the P3 Awards. The awards provide an opportunity for additional funding to further develop and implement the technology designs. |
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Stanford Researchers are Awarded $75,000 from Environmental Agency
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BY MICHELE SUMMA
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Stanford’s Lotus Living Laboratory
has been awarded $75,000 from the
Environmental Protection Agency to
continue their research into developing
green building technology.
Lauren Dietrich and Chi Nguyen,
from Palo Alto and San Ramon respectively,
were members of the team who
won the EPA’s People, Prosperity and
the Planet (P3) Award.
This past year, the Green Dorm has
been an opportunity for student and faculty
researchers to explore sustainable
building technologies and living habits
through the design, construction and
operation of a facility containing residential,
laboratory and common space.
The group presented their results in
Washington, D.C., last week at a nationwide
competition sponsored by the EPA.
The Stanford project was also recognized
for showing the most potential for
commercialization. Judges were
impressed by the goals of the project,
which include building a green dorm at
Stanford and developing a larger program
that researches and educates about
sustainable pathways for resource use
and building development.
The P3 Award was launched in 2004
to respond to the technical needs in moving
toward sustainability.
Learn more about the Green Dorm
project at greendorm.stanford.edu.
‘There’s so many regulatory hoops the city would have
to go through, it would just be tied up in the courts for
years. Let’s take on some achievable projects.’
Menlo Park Council Member Kelly Fergusson
Stanford researchers are awarded
$75,000 from environmental agency
Real estate — now on Mondays
and Tuesdays in the Daily News |
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P3
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West Paterson, NJ.
Herald News
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Page B5
FOLLOWING UP
A team from Lafayette College, including Fair Lawn resident Debra Perrone (front right in photo), was one of six winners last week at the Environmental Protection Agency’s annual P3 (People, Prosperity, Planet) Awards competition. The prize included a $10,000 grant to continue work on its project, a sustainable water supply and sanitation system for the village of La Fortuna in Honduras.
“Working on sustainable solutions for Honduras deepened my focus on the environment and changed how I will forever design any civil engineering project,” Perrone said via e-mail. “Through
my travel to the village and working this semester on the P3 project,
my peers and I have realized that what we build, builds us. As
aspiring engineers we no longer only look at the most efficient solution;
we tie in all social, economic and environmental aspects
of a project, ensuring that it is the most sustainable solution.”
More funds are needed, she added, but with this grant, the team
will be able to implement its water system as early as late August.
Some of the award’s benefits will be felt on Lafayette’s campus in
Easton, Pa., as well. “The grant money is also giving our chapter a
chance to expand and become even more interdisciplinary and
reach out to help guide other college chapters, which was one of
our many goals for P3,” said Perrone, who, in addition to this project,
will also work on the New York City water tunnel this summer.
For a full list of winners and project descriptions, visit
http://es.epa.gov/ncer/P3/. — Nathan Hale |
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Green Dorm Project snags $75,000
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Allison Dedrick
Stanford Daily
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Green Dorm Project snags $75,000 By Allison Dedrick Friday, May 19, 2006 last updated May 19, 2006 12 24 AM The Stanford Green Dorm Project and Lotus Living Laboratory was recently awarded $75,000 to continue research on energy efficient and environmentally-friendly buildings. The Stanford group was one of six winners among a field of 40 in Phase II of the People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) student design competition, organized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Mike Lin, a graduate student in mechanical engineering and one of the organizers of the Lotus Living Laboratory class, called the award a great honor and a big pat on the back. Brainstorming sessions in the fall of 2003 motivated Stanford to decide to build a green dorm on campus - an environmentally conscious, sustainable building.
As scheduled, students will be able to move into the dorm in the fall of 2009. The Lotus Living Laboratory is a group of students and faculty who research green-building technologies and feed new information to the architects and designers of the green dorm. They received a Phase I People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) grant of $10,000 last spring and competed against other recipients of the Phase I grant for the Phase II grant of $75,000. Six Stanford students traveled to Washington, D.C. for the competition, which was held on May 9 to 10 on the National Mall. The team presented their research to the officials from the EPA, students from other schools and the general public. We didn't really know what to expect, Lin said. It was a really warm and welcoming environment, not competitive or cutthroat at all. Freshman Chi Nguyen added, It was really inspiring to be in an environment with other schools doing similar interesting and incredible things.
Lauren Dietrich, a graduate student in construction management and an organizer of the Lotus Living Laboratory, agreed that the trip was a positive experience. We completely immersed ourselves in the project, Dietrich said. Our presentations went smoothly and the enthusiasm, creativity and capability of the team shone through. In addition to winning the Phase II of the P3 grants, the Stanford team also was awarded the Green Globes award from the Green Building Initiative. According to a statement released by the Lotus Living Laboratory, Stanford was awarded the Green Globes for being the entry that showed the most potential for commercialization and expansion into the market place. The statement said judges were especially impressed with the project's goals, which went beyond constructing a green dorm on campus to developing a larger program that researches and educates about sustainable pathways for resource use and building development.
The award included a cash prize of $1,000. The team plans to use the money to continue their interdisciplinary research. Lin said that they hope to begin the coordination of more detailed research, especially in monitoring and metering the usage of energy and water. This past year has been largely exploration, he said, noting that the team wants to be able to display information within the dorm about its consumption of energy, hopefully in interesting and novel ways that are more readily available and digestible than bar graphs and charts. The idea is to have a dorm that is not only environmentally-friendly but also increases resident awareness of how it functions and uses resources. Additionally, the group plans to host a Green Dorm and Living Lab conference in the summer of 2007, inviting residents and building managers from similar programs to share their work. We hope to build a cross-University community focused on educating for sustainability though the build environment, Dietrich wrote in an email to The Daily. We also have early plans to network several online building metering and feedback systems to connect these living laboratories in innovative and interactive ways.
From there, the sky is the limit. It is a really exciting time, said Lin. The EPA has confirmed that this is a worthy, honorable and hopefully innovative project. We have a lot to look forward to in the coming year. |
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Students shine at design contest
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MSNBC
MSNBC
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Students from six universities across the country received awards for sustainable solutions to environmental problems in a first ever contest on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.Sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency and 44 other government, educational and private partners, the contest known as P3 - for People, Prosperity and the Planet - had 41 teams set up their design projects on the nation's premiere open space.Students from the University of Michigan, for example, used building construction material that had been grown - the idea being to use natural fibers while encouraging new markets for agriculture. Getting there was half the fun for some teams. Students from Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C., drove over in a bus powered by biodiesel fuel made from recycled cooking oil.'P3 releases the power of the possible to advance sustainable solutions to environmental challenges,' EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson said in a statement. 'I am pleased that our nation's future leaders are answering President Bush's call to deliver environmental and economic results by expanding technology and innovation.' The P3 award includes funding up to $75,000 'that gives the students an opportunity to further develop their designs and move them to the marketplace,' the EPA said.The award winners are Appalachian State University, Boone, N.C. Closing the Biodiesel Loop community based production of biodiesel from local waste vegetable oil.Lafayette College, Easton, Pa. Sustainable Water Systems in Honduras - a simple method to remove inorganic arsenic from groundwater sources.Portland State University, Portland, Ore. WISE, an interactive Web site for educators and students on a holistic approach to sustainable development. Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.
The Green Dorm design and construction of a sustainable facility for residential, laboratory and commons space.University of Massachusetts, Lowell, Mass. Cancer treatment drugs from green tea.University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. Growing alternative sustainable buildings from natural fiber, biodegradable or recyclable materials. Additional background is online at www.epa.gov/P3. |
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STUDENT ENGINEERING GROUP WINS HONORABLE MENTION IN NATIONAL COMPETITION
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IOWA CITY, Iowa, May 17 -- The University of Iowa's College of Engineering issued the following news release
The University of Iowa student organization, Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW), recently received an Honorable Mention award in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 2nd Annual People, Prosperity, and the Planet (P3 Awards) competition.
Craig Just, UI associate research scientist in the College of Engineering Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and ESW advisor, accepted the award with the UI student-led team May 10 at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C.
Student team members include
* Marcelo Mena (project leader) of Villa Alemana, Chile, doctoral candidate in civil and environmental engineering.
* Elliott Campbell of Santa Cruz, Calif., doctoral candidate in civil and environmental engineering.
* Loreto Stambuk of Punta Arenas, Chile, master's degree from the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in urban and regional planning in 2004.
* Policarpio Soberanis of Belize City, Belize, graduate student in mechanical and industrial engineering.
* Ivy Donaldson of Kingston, Jamaica, graduate student in mechanical and industrial engineering.
The UI ESW chapter was one of 41 student teams nationwide receiving $10,000 EPA Phase I grants to design a sustainability promoting concept or product,
then travel to Washington, D.C. to present the design in the P3 competition. The UI design - to adapt an Iowa Department of Natural Resources pollution prevention internship program to make it an exchange program with students in Mexico - is designed to help residents of Xicotepec, Mexico, prevent pollution in ways that aid the environment and the economy. In addition to accepting its P3 award, the UI team met with Sen. Charles Grassley and the Chilean Ambassador to the United States about expanding the team's pollution prevention program to other Latin American countries.
The long-term goal is to work with global companies with operations in Iowa and Central and South America to make the award-winning Iowa Department of Natural Resources Pollution Prevention intern program international in scope with direct benefits to Iowans, Just says.
Earlier this year, the UI ESW chapter was honored when the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) invited Just to represent the group at a March 21-24 international conference at UNESCO world headquarters in Paris. The meeting focused on establishing an international ESW organization to enable interested groups worldwide to participate more closely with U.S.-based ESW chapters on sustainable development projects and education.
UI ESW will host the national ESW Conference, Envisioning Sustainability A New Generation of Thinking for the Next Generation of Living, Sept. 27-30 at the Iowa Memorial Union on the UI campus.
Engineers for a Sustainable World is a nonprofit organization with a network of more than 3,000 professionals and students working to reduce poverty and improve global sustainability. The UI chapter, comprised of students and professionals, works with Rotary International District 6000, which provides local contacts in foreign lands as well as logistical and financial support. Further information about ESW can be found at www.uiesw.org.
The EPA initiated the P3 Award (http //es.epa.gov/ncer/p3/index.html) in 2004 to respond to the challenges of the developed and developing world in moving toward sustainability. The P3 national competition enables college students to research, develop and design scientific, technical and policy solutions to sustainability challenges.
HTS mhmh 060518-442553 MHAIDER
Copyright © 2006 US Fed News (HT Syndication) |
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Students shine at sustainable design contest
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Students shine at sustainable design contest
Six university teams win EPA awards, dozens participated on National Mall
MSNBC
Updated: 12:07 p.m. ET May 12, 2006
Students from six universities across the country received awards for sustainable solutions to environmental problems in a first ever contest on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
Sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency and 44 other government, educational and private partners, the contest known as P3 — for People, Prosperity and the Planet — had 41 teams set up their design projects on the nation's premiere open space.
Students from the University of Michigan, for example, used building construction material that had been grown — the idea being to use natural fibers while encouraging new markets for agriculture.
Getting there was half the fun for some teams. Students from Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C., drove over in a bus powered by biodiesel fuel made from recycled cooking oil.
P3 releases the power of the possible to advance sustainable solutions to environmental challenges," EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson said in a statement. "I am pleased that our nation's future leaders are answering President Bush's call to deliver environmental and economic results by expanding technology and innovation."
The P3 award includes funding up to $75,000 "that gives the students an opportunity to further develop their designs and move them to the marketplace," the EPA said.
The award winners are:
Appalachian State University, Boone, N.C. Closing the Biodiesel Loop: community based production of biodiesel from local waste vegetable oil.
Lafayette College, Easton, Pa. Sustainable Water Systems in Honduras - a simple method to remove inorganic arsenic from groundwater sources.
Portland State University, Portland, Ore. WISE, an interactive Web site for educators and students on a holistic approach to sustainable development.
Stanford University, Stanford, Calif. The Green Dorm: design and construction of a sustainable facility for residential, laboratory and commons space.
University of Massachusetts, Lowell, Mass. Cancer treatment drugs from green tea.
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. Growing alternative sustainable buildings from natural fiber, biodegradable or recyclable materials.
Additional background is online at www.epa.gov/P3.
© 2006 MSNBC Interactive
© 2006 MSNBC.com
URL: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12755712/ |
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Going for the Gold with Green Technology
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Going for the Gold with Green Technology
Students from Appalachian State University drove from North Carolina to Washington, D.C., in a bus entirely powered by biodiesel fuel made from recycled cooking oil. University of Michigan at Ann Arbor students are "growing" materials for construction of buildings, both to use natural fibers and to encourage a new market for agriculture. These were just two of the winning projects at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) awards ceremony last night.
"P3 releases the power of the possible to advance sustainable solutions to environmental challenges," said EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson. "I am pleased that our nation's future leaders are answering President Bush's call to deliver environmental and economic results by expanding technology and innovation."
This national competition, sponsored by EPA's Office of Research and Development, enables college students to research, develop and design scientific, technical, and policy solutions to sustainability challenges. Sustainable solutions are environmentally friendly, efficiently use natural resources and are economically competitive. The P3 award includes funding up to $75,000 that gives the students an opportunity to further develop their designs and move them to the marketplace.
Winners of this year's awards and their projects are:
? Appalachian State University, Boone, N.C. - Closing the Biodiesel Loop: community based production of ASTM D6751-03 standard fuel from local waste vegetable oil;
? Lafayette College, Easton, Pa. - Sustainable Water Systems in Honduras - a simple method to remove inorganic arsenic from groundwater sources;
? Portland State University, Portland, Ore. - WISE, an interactive website for educators and students on a holistic (whole systems) approach to sustainable development guided by the WISE owl;
? Stanford University, Stanford, Calif. - The Green Dorm: design and construction of a sustainable facility for residential, laboratory and commons space;
? University of Massachusetts, Lowell, Mass. - Cancer treatment drugs from green tea - novel used non-toxic enzymes to extract poly(catechins) with promising anti-tumor activity; and
? University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.: Growing Alternative Sustainable Buildings from natural fiber, biodegradable or recyclable materials.
The P3 Award competition was held at EPA's first National Sustainable Design Expo on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The students exhibited their design projects while companies, non-profit organizations and government agencies exhibited their commercially successful sustainable technologies. Support for the competition includes more than 45 partners in the federal government, industry and scientific and professional societies.
Source: U.S. EPA |
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P3: People, Prosperity and the Planet
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P3: People, Prosperity and the Planet
May 15th - 5:03am
PrintEmail
A team of college students is making window material, sturdy enough to cover the side of an office building, out of stuff grown in a field. The concept just won an Environmental Protection Agency award.
Buildings use up about forty percent of both U.S. energy and landfill space. So a University of Michigan team, led by engineering professor Harry Giles, is making new materials.
"We see a future where our buildings come from sources that are grown rather than materials that are dug out of the ground where we have limited sources," says Giles.
They're strategically positioning thin wafers of material like bamboo or wheat between plastic. The result, Giles says, is extra strong windows that block light in the summer while letting it in, at just the right angle, in the winter.
"We don't have to mechanically open and close blinds all the time to control lighting."
And all the parts can be recycled.
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On the Web:
EPA's P3 Award: http://es.epa.gov/ncer/p3/fact_sheet.html
List of Winners: http://es.epa.gov/ncer/p3/project_websites/2006/2006awardwinners.html
The University of Michigan student project: Growing Alternative Sustainable Buildings |
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P3 Awards (no headline)
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| Article on Hearst-Argyle TV, Aired on WXII TV in North Carolina. |
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Going for the Gold with Green Technology
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Saturday, May 13, 2006 infoZine Staff Member Utilities menu, option List Articles', 'trial', true)); '>page views Going for the Gold with Green Technology U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) awards Washington, D.C. - infoZine - Students from Appalachian State University drove from North Carolina to Washington, D.C. , in a bus entirely powered by biodiesel fuel made from recycled cooking oil. University of Michigan at Ann Arbor students are 'growing' materials for construction of buildings, both to use natural fibers and to encourage a new market for agriculture. These were just two of the winning projects at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) awards ceremony. 'P3 releases the power of the possible to advance sustainable solutions to environmental challenges,' said EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson. 'I am pleased that our nation's future leaders are answering President Bush's call to deliver environmental and economic results by expanding technology and innovation.' This national competition, sponsored by EPA's Office of Research and Development, enables college students to research, develop and design scientific, technical, and policy solutions to sustainability challenges. Sustainable solutions are environmentally friendly, efficiently use natural resources and are economically competitive. The P3 award includes funding up to $75,000 that gives the students an opportunity to further develop their designs and move them to the marketplace.
Winners of this year's awards and their projects Appalachian State University , Boone , N.C. - Closing the Biodiesel Loop community based production of ASTM D6751-03 standard fuel from local waste vegetable oil; Lafayette College , Easton , Pa. - Sustainable Water Systems in Honduras - a simple method to remove inorganic arsenic from groundwater sources; Portland State University , Portland , Ore. - WISE, an interactive website for educators and students on a holistic (whole systems) approach to sustainable development guided by the WISE owl; Stanford University , Stanford , Calif. - The Green Dorm design and construction of a sustainable facility for residential, laboratory and commons space; University of Massachusetts, Lowell, Mass. - Cancer treatment drugs from green tea - novel used non-toxic enzymes to extract poly(catechins) with promising anti-tumor activity; and University of Michigan , Ann Arbor , Mich. Growing Alternative Sustainable Buildings from natural fiber, biodegradable or recyclable materials. The P3 Award competition was held at EPA's first National Sustainable Design Expo on the National Mall in Washington , D.C. The students exhibited their design projects while companies, non-profit organizations and government agencies exhibited their commercially successful sustainable technologies. Support for the competition includes more than 45 partners in the federal government, industry and scientific and professional societies. Related links P3 Award competition - www.epa.gov/P3 P3 award winners and their projects - www.epa.gov/p3/06winners EPA's sustainability research program - www.epa.gov/sustainability Comments (0) |
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Green Technology at the Sustainable Design Expo
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Kulpinski, Dan
downtoearthblog
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Green Technology at the Sustainable Design Expo
A Biodiesel Bus: Appalachian State University had the largest, and possibly most eye-catching, entry -- an old Mercedes microbus/van powered by 100 percent biodiesel fuel -- at the EPA's National Sustainable Design Expo this week on the Mall in Washington, D.C.
Appalachian State won one of six People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) awards at the Expo, at which teams from 41 colleges displayed entries that used technology and design to develop sustainable solutions to water use, energy use, construction processes and more. The goal of sustainability is to integrate environmental, business and social goals by doing things in ways that protect the environment, but are cost-effective and improve the quality of life.
The teams had received $10,000 in grants from the EPA for their projects. The P3 winners will get up uto $75,000 to develop their programs further.
Students from Appalachian State drove the biodiesel bus from their campus in Boone, N.C., to the Expo. Their project was titled, "Closing the Biodiesel Loop: Community-based production of ASTM D6751-03 standard fuel from local waste vegetable oil." Jeffrey E. Ramsdell, associate technology professor, said the "students created a huge buzz over biodiesel" on campus. They convinced the administration at Appalachian State to switch all university vehicles over to run on 20 percent biodiesel fuel. The town of Boone uses the same fueling tank as the school, so town vehicles will have to use the biodiesel as well.
Ramsdell said the benefits of biodiesel are "greatly reduced" emissions -- although small amounts of carbon dioxide and other pollutants remain -- and "very close to zero" emissions of particulate matter. Biodiesel provides about the same gas mileage and horsepower as regular diesel, he said.
His students created the biodiesel fuel from waste vegetable oil combined with methanol. The process produces glycerin and biofuel; students used the glycerin to make soap.
When I visited the Expo on May 10, I also spoke to the team from Clarkson University, which is in Potsdam, N.Y., near the Canadian border. Students Scott Lewis, Matthew Williams and Bhavin Bhayani were there displaying their project -- which later won an honorable mention -- to use biodiesel fuel in Potsdam school buses, both to reduce emissions and help boost the local economy.
The idea was to use locally-grown soybeans and waste vegetable oil from local fast food places to make the biodiesel. By using 20 percent biodiesel in school buses, they found they could reduce particulate pollution by up to 10 percent and lower fossil fuel use by 19 percent. "It's a feasible and viable solution," said Lewis.
Duke University had an interesing entry as well, complete with working props. Their 'Smart House' project consisted of a solar water heater and gray water recovery system. A solar tracker -- solar panels on a swivel that could follow the sun across the sky -- heated the water going through it to 90 or 100 degrees. This water then flowed into a water heater tank, where an on-demand heater would boost the temperature higher when you wanted to take a shower. The used shower water then was captured (some heat was recovered from it first) and sent to the toilet, where it would be flushed into the sewer line.
Sophomore mechanical engineering student Jeff Schwane explained that the innovations Duke used included solar panels that were "lighter, made of plastic composite" (and thus less expensive than traditional panels). The students' posters claimed the whole setup only cost about $800 -- very reasonable if it's accurate. They are actually building a Smart House on the Duke campus; eventually students will live in it.
It's heartening to see a large number of colleges working on sustainability techonlogies. I think it bodes well for the future and I commend the EPA for sponsoring such a program. Maybe we'll see some of these projects enter the marketplace someday.
Written by downtoearthblog . Link to this entry | Blog about this entry | Notify AOL |
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Going for the Gold with Green Technology
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Subscribe By Staff (AXcess News) Washington - Students from Appalachian State University drove from North Carolina to Washington, D.C., in a bus entirely powered by biodiesel fuel made from recycled cooking oil. University of Michigan at Ann Arbor students are 'growing' materials for construction of buildings, both to use natural fibers and to encourage a new market for agriculture. These were just two of the winning projects at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) awards ceremony last night. 'P3 releases the power of the possible to advance sustainable solutions to environmental challenges,' said EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson. 'I am pleased that our nation's future leaders are answering President Bush's call to deliver environmental and economic results by expanding technology and innovation.' This national competition, sponsored by EPA's Office of Research and Development, enables college students to research, develop and design scientific, technical, and policy solutions to sustainability challenges. Sustainable solutions are environmentally friendly, efficiently use natural resources and are economically competitive. The P3 award includes funding up to $75,000 that gives the students an opportunity to further develop their designs and move them to the marketplace.
Winners of this year's awards and their projects are Appalachian State University, Boone, N.C. - Closing the Biodiesel Loop community based production of ASTM D6751-03 standard fuel from local waste vegetable oil; Lafayette College, Easton, Pa. - Sustainable Water Systems in Honduras - a simple method to remove inorganic arsenic from groundwater sources; Portland State University, Portland, Ore. - WISE, an interactive website for educators and students on a holistic (whole systems) approach to sustainable development guided by the WISE owl; Stanford University, Stanford, Calif. - The Green Dorm design and construction of a sustainable facility for residential, laboratory and commons space; University of Massachusetts, Lowell, Mass. - Cancer treatment drugs from green tea - novel used non-toxic enzymes to extract poly(catechins) with promising anti-tumor activity; and University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. Growing Alternative Sustainable Buildings from natural fiber, biodegradable or recyclable materials. The P3 Award competition was held at EPA's first National Sustainable Design Expo on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The students exhibited their design projects while companies, non-profit organizations and government agencies exhibited their commercially successful sustainable technologies. Support for the competition includes more than 45 partners in the federal government, industry and scientific and professional societies. More information about the P3 Award competition http //www.epa.gov/P3 P3 award winners and their projects http //www.epa.gov/p3/06winners EPA's sustainability research program http //www.epa.gov/sustainability |
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National Sustainable Design Expo Highlights Student Work
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Paige Kollock
Voice of America
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National Sustainable Design Expo Highlights Student Work By Paige Kollock Washington, DC 12 May 2006 watch Sustainability Expo report / Real broadband - download watch Sustainability Expo report / Real broadband watch Sustainability Expo report / Real dialup - download watch Sustainability Expo report / Real dialup More than 350 students from 21 colleges and universities were on the National Mall in Washington D.C. this week to compete for the Environmental Protection Agency's second annual 'People, Prosperity, Planet' award. They have novel designs for environmentally friendly buildings; innovative alternative fuel technologies; and rainwater collection techniques. Banjo and fiddle-playing students relax during the exhibitionA group of banjo-playing 'greenies' from Appalachian State University was one of the six winning entries for the 'People, Prosperity, Planet', or 'P3' award. The winners have the option to take up to $75,000 in grant money to further develop their design and move it to the marketplace.
Their project was called 'Closing the Biodiesel Loop.' They created a sustainable education facility to promote and demonstrate small-scale biodiesel processing. Their 1971 Mercedes van was fueled by biodiesel made from used cooking oil donated by restaurants. To showcase their work, they drove the van nearly seven hours to Washington, D.C. Student Justin Stiles gives his impressions. 'It will add a great amount of mileage that you can put on an engine by running on biodiesel, it's quieter, which is nice; a lot of people think diesels are real loud, and they're real knocky [knock a lot] and things like that. But it really takes a lot of that [the knocking] out of it, and it smells wonderful.' Another winning team from Lafayette College took its sustainability ideas to Central America. The group designed a water filtration system for a small village in Honduras that had no clean drinking water.
Another student, Greg Roscoe, talks about the importance of clean water. 'Without clean drinking water there is a whole range of water borne illness ... bacteria, everything in the water. If you don't have access to clean drinking water and you're exposed to all these health issues, then you can't really move on. You can't really expand the village.' Powered by bio-dieselStudents from Duke University, who were not among the winners this year, designed an entire green dormitory. The so-called 'smarthouse' will house 10 students who will design and build environmentally sound systems, including using renewable or recycled components; and reusing grey water -- that is, water that is not completely clean but which does not need purification. They also will work on alternative energy generation, through systems like a solar one that includes a tracker to maximize efficient use of sun power.. Each of the participants received a $10,000 grant last fall to develop their designs, come to the expo, and showcase them.
George Gray works for the office of Research and Development at the Environmental Protection Agency. George Gray'There are ideas here that people can put into place in their own homes, in their own lives, today,' said Gray. 'There are little steps that each of us can take to really make a difference and these students are identifying them, proving them and in some cases, commercializing them.' But Justin Stiles is happy just to have made a local impact. 'In the spring of next year, a year from now, there's going to be a class being taught on making biodiesel, directly related to what we have done here, so we've changed the curriculum of our school just by doing what we've done here, so that's pretty top notch I think.' In addition to student projects, government, nonprofit, and for-profit organizations exhibited their sustainable technologies -- all intended to preserve natural resources for future generations. |
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Clarkson University Sustainable Design Team presenting research at National Design competition
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This news appeared on May 10, 2006
Clarkson University Sustainable Design Team presenting research at National Design competition05/10/06 A group of Clarkson students are in Washington D.C. today to make a presentation on Biodiesel research to the National Academies of Science and Engineering. Members of the Clarkson P3 Sustainable Design team will present their research titled Biodiesel as a Sustainable Alternative to Petroleum Diesel in School Buses, as part of a national design competition sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency. The students will be competing for further grants to expand their research. I'm extremely proud of the research our students have done, says Andrea Ferro, assistant professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Clarkson and one of the team's advisors.
The study shows promise for rewarding benefits and with our current dependence on diminishing oil resources, businesses are looking for ways to find a renewable, cost effective fuel. Biodiesel is a sustainable alternative fuel that can be locally produced and can both reduce emissions and produce emissions with less toxic components than petroleum-based fuels. The Clarkson study also determined that biodiesel could have an economic impact on the future development of Potsdam and the surrounding region. During the study, the Clarkson team examined the use of biodiesel as an alternative replacement fuel for school buses operating in the rural, cold climate of northern New York. As part of the project, biodiesel and diesel emission concentrations were monitored near school buses at Potsdam Elementary School.
From the data collected, the team found that for both fuels concentrations of exhaust particulate matter were lower than national standards, and that by switching to biodiesel, North Country schools could reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and their operating costs. Alan Rossner, assistant professor of Biology and Industrial Hygiene, and Susan Powers, associate dean of Research and Graduate Studies in the Coulter School of Engineering and professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering, also advised the Clarkson team, along with Roshan Jachuck, professor of Chemical Engineering and biodiesel expert. Clarkson and the other teams that have received P3 grants have been invited to Washington, D.C., to present their findings to a panel of judges from the National Academies of Science and Engineering. Winning teams will receive further funding for design development and implementation. |
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Going for the Gold with Green Technology
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Going for the Gold with Green Technology Release date 05/11/2006 Contact Information Suzanne Ackerman, (202) 564-4355 / ackerman.suzanne@epa.gov (Washington, D.C. - May 11, 2006) Students from Appalachian State University drove from North Carolina to Washington, D.C., in a bus entirely powered by biodiesel fuel made from recycled cooking oil. University of Michigan at Ann Arbor students are 'growing' materials for construction of buildings, both to use natural fibers and to encourage a new market for agriculture. These were just two of the winning projects at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) awards ceremony last night. 'P3 releases the power of the possible to advance sustainable solutions to environmental challenges,' said EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson. 'I am pleased that our nation's future leaders are answering President Bush's call to deliver environmental and economic results by expanding technology and innovation.' This national competition, sponsored by EPA's Office of Research and Development, enables college students to research, develop and design scientific, technical, and policy solutions to sustainability challenges. Sustainable solutions are environmentally friendly, efficiently use natural resources and are economically competitive. The P3 award includes funding up to $75,000 that gives the students an opportunity to further develop their designs and move them to the marketplace.
Winners of this year's awards and their projects are Appalachian State University, Boone, N.C. - Closing the Biodiesel Loop community based production of ASTM D6751-03 standard fuel from local waste vegetable oil; Lafayette College, Easton, Pa. - Sustainable Water Systems in Honduras - a simple method to remove inorganic arsenic from groundwater sources; Portland State University, Portland, Ore. - WISE, an interactive website for educators and students on a holistic (whole systems) approach to sustainable development guided by the WISE owl; Stanford University, Stanford, Calif. - The Green Dorm design and construction of a sustainable facility for residential, laboratory and commons space; University of Massachusetts, Lowell, Mass. - Cancer treatment drugs from green tea - novel used non-toxic enzymes to extract poly(catechins) with promising anti-tumor activity; and University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. Growing Alternative Sustainable Buildings from natural fiber, biodegradable or recyclable materials. The P3 Award competition was held at EPA's first National Sustainable Design Expo on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The students exhibited their design projects while companies, non-profit organizations and government agencies exhibited their commercially successful sustainable technologies. Support for the competition includes more than 45 partners in the federal government, industry and scientific and professional societies. More information about the P3 Award competition http //www.epa.gov/P3 P3 award winners and their projects epa.gov/p3/06winners EPA's sustainability research program epa.gov/sustainability Receive our News Releases Automatically by Email |
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The First National Sustainable Design Expo
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Subscribe By Staff (AXcess News) Washington - Imagine a world where houses are built from plant materials instead of cement and bricks. Drinking water is disinfected by solar energy, not chemicals. And homes are designed to harvest rainwater to supply hot and cold water. It's not a far away dream - you can see it next week at the first National Sustainable Design Expo on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., May 9-10 which showcases the best new designs for sustainable products and technologies, also called 'green technology.' A highlight of the Expo is EPA's second annual People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) Awards, a national competition involving 41 teams of college and university students who will exhibit their novel design projects.
Sustainable designs prove that providing a higher quality of life and protecting the planet are compatible with economic prosperity. Businesses are taking notice - - last year, four P3 design projects became new commercial ventures. Projects included designs for green buildings, alternative fuel technologies, plans for safe drinking water in developing countries and even greening the apparel industry. 'Businesses are discovering green technology not only helps green the planet, but puts more green in their wallets. Scientific innovation has long driven the U.S. economy,' said Dr. George Gray, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Research and Development. 'Now innovation is driving the movement toward environmental sustainability in the United States and making it profitable. At the Expo, you will see designs for how we will heat our homes, clean our drinking water, and design our transportation systems in the near future.' The P3 Award was launched in 2004 to respond to the needs of the developed and developing world in moving toward sustainability.
This national competition enables college students to research, develop and design scientific, technical and policy solutions to sustainability challenges. Support for the P3 competition includes more than 45 partners in the federal government, industry and scientific and professional societies. The expo will include exhibits by companies, government and nonprofit organizations, demonstrating successful sustainable technologies and products. The expo is co-sponsored by the National Council for Science and the Environment; Environmental and Energy Study Institute and Green Chemistry Institute.
The National Sustainable Design Expo is open to the general public without charge and will take place on May 9, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and May 10, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the National Mall between 3rd and 4th streets. Information on the expo and the P3 Award http //www.epa.gov/P3 |
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First National Sustainable Design Expo to Showcase Innovative 'Green Technology'
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News this week sponsored by USFilter Imagine a world where houses are built from plant materials instead of cement and bricks; drinking water is disinfected by solar energy, not chemicals; and homes are designed to harvest rainwater to supply hot and cold water. It is not a far away dream-you can see it at the first National Sustainable Design Expo on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., May 9 to 10, which will showcase the best new designs for sustainable products and technologies, also called green technology. A highlight of the expo is EPA's second annual People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) Awards, a national competition involving 41 teams of college and university students who will exhibit their novel design projects. Sustainable designs prove that providing a higher quality of life and protecting the planet are compatible with economic prosperity. Businesses are taking notice-last year, four P3 design projects became new commercial ventures.
Projects included designs for green buildings, alternative fuel technologies, plans for safe drinking water in developing countries and even greening the apparel industry. Businesses are discovering green technology not only helps green the planet, but puts more green in their wallets. Scientific innovation has long driven the U.S. economy, said Dr. George Gray, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Research and Development. Now innovation is driving the movement toward environmental sustainability in the U.S. and making it profitable. At the expo, you will see designs for how we will heat our homes, clean our drinking water and design our transportation systems in the near future. The P3 Award was launched in 2004 to respond to the needs of the developed and developing world in moving toward sustainability. This national competition enables college students to research, develop and design scientific, technical and policy solutions to sustainability challenges. Support for the P3 competition includes more than 45 partners in the federal government, industry and scientific and professional societies.
The expo will include exhibits by companies, government and nonprofit organizations demonstrating successful sustainable technologies and products. The expo is co-sponsored by the National Council for Science and the Environment, Environmental and Energy Study Institute and Green Chemistry Institute. |
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The First National Sustainable Design Expo
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Thursday, May 04, 2006 infoZine Staff Member Utilities menu, option List Articles', 'trial', true)); '>page views The First National Sustainable Design Expo Green Technology Use Less Resources and Increase Profits Washington, D.C. - infoZine - Imagine a world where houses are built from plant materials instead of cement and bricks. Drinking water is disinfected by solar energy, not chemicals. And homes are designed to harvest rainwater to supply hot and cold water. It's not a far away dream - you can see it next week at the first National Sustainable Design Expo on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., May 9-10 which showcases the best new designs for sustainable products and technologies, also called 'green technology.' A highlight of the Expo is EPA's second annual People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) Awards, a national competition involving 41 teams of college and university students who will exhibit their novel design projects.
Sustainable designs prove that providing a higher quality of life and protecting the planet are compatible with economic prosperity. Businesses are taking notice - - last year, four P3 design projects became new commercial ventures. Projects included designs for green buildings, alternative fuel technologies, plans for safe drinking water in developing countries and even greening the apparel industry. 'Businesses are discovering green technology not only helps green the planet, but puts more green in their wallets. Scientific innovation has long driven the U.S. economy,' said Dr. George Gray, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Research and Development. 'Now innovation is driving the movement toward environmental sustainability in the United States and making it profitable. At the Expo, you will see designs for how we will heat our homes, clean our drinking water, and design our transportation systems in the near future.' The P3 Award was launched in 2004 to respond to the needs of the developed and developing world in moving toward sustainability.
This national competition enables college students to research, develop and design scientific, technical and policy solutions to sustainability challenges. Support for the P3 competition includes more than 45 partners in the federal government, industry and scientific and professional societies. The expo will include exhibits by companies, government and nonprofit organizations, demonstrating successful sustainable technologies and products. The expo is co-sponsored by the National Council for Science and the Environment; Environmental and Energy Study Institute and Green Chemistry Institute.
The National Sustainable Design Expo is open to the general public without charge and will take place on May 9, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and May 10, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the National Mall between 3rd and 4th streets. Related links Information on the expo and the P3 Award - www.epa.gov/P3 EPA's sustainability research program - www.epa.gov/sustainability Comments (0) |
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Green Technology Use Less Resources and Increase Profits - The First National Sustainable Design Ex
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Green Technology Use Less Resources and Increase Profits - The First National Sustainable Design Expo Release date 05/03/2006 Contact Information Suzanne Ackerman, (202) 564-4355 / ackerman.suzanne@epa.gov (Washington, D.C. - May 3, 2006) Imagine a world where houses are built from plant materials instead of cement and bricks. Drinking water is disinfected by solar energy, not chemicals. And homes are designed to harvest rainwater to supply hot and cold water. It's not a far away dream - you can see it next week at the first National Sustainable Design Expo on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., May 9-10 which showcases the best new designs for sustainable products and technologies, also called 'green technology.' A highlight of the Expo is EPA's second annual People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) Awards, a national competition involving 41 teams of college and university students who will exhibit their novel design projects.
Sustainable designs prove that providing a higher quality of life and protecting the planet are compatible with economic prosperity. Businesses are taking notice - - last year, four P3 design projects became new commercial ventures. Projects included designs for green buildings, alternative fuel technologies, plans for safe drinking water in developing countries and even greening the apparel industry. 'Businesses are discovering green technology not only helps green the planet, but puts more green in their wallets. Scientific innovation has long driven the U.S. economy,' said Dr. George Gray, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Research and Development. 'Now innovation is driving the movement toward environmental sustainability in the United States and making it profitable. At the Expo, you will see designs for how we will heat our homes, clean our drinking water, and design our transportation systems in the near future.' The P3 Award was launched in 2004 to respond to the needs of the developed and developing world in moving toward sustainability.
This national competition enables college students to research, develop and design scientific, technical and policy solutions to sustainability challenges. Support for the P3 competition includes more than 45 partners in the federal government, industry and scientific and professional societies. The expo will include exhibits by companies, government and nonprofit organizations, demonstrating successful sustainable technologies and products. The expo is co-sponsored by the National Council for Science and the Environment; Environmental and Energy Study Institute and Green Chemistry Institute.
The National Sustainable Design Expo is open to the general public without charge and will take place on May 9, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and May 10, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the National Mall between 3rd and 4th streets. Information on the expo and the P3 Award epa.gov/P3 Expo agenda epa.gov/ncer/p3/press/agenda06.html EPA's sustainability research program epa.gov/sustainability Receive our News Releases Automatically by Email |
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National Sustainable Design Expo To Showcase Green Technology
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National Sustainable Design Expo To Showcase Green TechnologyImagine a world where houses are built from plant materials instead of cement and bricks. Drinking water is disinfected by solar energy, not chemicals. And homes are designed to harvest rainwater to supply hot and cold water. It's not a far away dream -- you can see at the first National Sustainable Design Expo on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., May 9-10 which showcases the best new designs for sustainable products and technologies, also called green technology.
A highlight of the Expo is EPA's second annual People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) Awards, a national competition involving 41 teams of college and university students who will exhibit their novel design projects. Sustainable designs prove that providing a higher quality of life and protecting the planet are compatible with economic prosperity. Businesses are taking notice - - last year, four P3 design projects became new commercial ventures. Projects included designs for green buildings, alternative fuel technologies, plans for safe drinking water in developing countries and even greening the apparel industry. Businesses are discovering green technology not only helps green the planet, but puts more green in their wallets.
Scientific innovation has long driven the U.S. economy, said Dr. George Gray, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Research and Development. Now innovation is driving the movement toward environmental sustainability in the United States and making it profitable. At the Expo, you will see designs for how we will heat our homes, clean our drinking water, and design our transportation systems in the near future. The P3 Award was launched in 2004 to respond to the needs of the developed and developing world in moving toward sustainability.
This national competition enables college students to research, develop and design scientific, technical and policy solutions to sustainability challenges. Support for the P3 competition includes more than 45 partners in the federal government, industry and scientific and professional societies. The expo will include exhibits by companies, government and nonprofit organizations, demonstrating successful sustainable technologies and products. The expo is co-sponsored by the National Council for Science and the Environmental and Energy Study Institute and Green Chemistry Institute. The National Sustainable Design Expo is open to the general public without charge and will take place on May 9, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and May 10, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the National Mall between 3rd and 4th streets.
Information on the expo and the P3 Award http //www.epa.gov/P3 Expo agenda http //es.epa.gov/ncer/p3/press/agenda06.html EPA's sustainability research program http //www.epa.gov/sustainability to email this page to a friend. Free letter |
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As Earth Day Approaches, Sustainable Design Teams Gear Up for Annual P3 Competition
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New York April 20, 2006 On May 9 and 10, more than 350 students from universities across the nation will gather in Washington, DC, to compete for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Second Annual P3 Award. Launched by the EPA to promote environmental and economic sustainability, the P3 (People, Prosperity, and the Planet) competition will showcase the design projects of 41 student teams selected in October to develop sustainable solutions to environmental challenges. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) joined more than forty partners from government, industry, and non-governmental organizations to raise awareness of the relationship between design, sustainability, and standards. ANSI's support for the P3 teams included the development of a P3 web portal and Standards Resource Guide that provide students and faculty with helpful standards information, links, and contacts at standards developing organizations.
Many of the design projects have aligned with the activities of ANSI-accredited standards developing organizations. One P3 team from the University of Virginia has utilized the resources of ASTM International, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), and the International Code Council (ICC) to assist in the development ecoMOD,-a project to build an ecological, modular, and affordable housing system for areas in need. Projects will be evaluated for their impact on furthering sustainability in the developed or developing world. The winning design teams will be granted funding of up to $75,000 to advance their projects and move them to the marketplace. The P3 Awards event will be held at the National Sustainable Design Expo on the National Mall in Washington, DC, on May 9 and 10. ANSI will exhibit at the event, and will provide materials and information about the standards community at booth 73. |
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Looking to the sky for a water supply
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JENNIFER KABBANY
North County Times
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aAds = new Array(); nAdsysTime = new Date().getTime()/1000; if ((nAdsysTime >= 1141624800) && (nAdsysTime <= 1457330399)) { aAd = new Array('news+californian+story.2','41969', 'js'); aAds[aAds.length] = aAd; } displayAd('http //adsys.townnews.com', 'nctimes.com', aAds); Federal government is failing to enforce our own laws Under the United States Code, entering the United States without examination and permission of the US authorities is a criminal offense punishable by 6 months in prison and a fine of several hundred dollars for the first offense and two years in prison and another small fine for the second offense. I say catch the law breakers, take their photos, fingerprints and DNA then jail them for the maximum sentence every single time, then deport them. 36 Comment(s) Visit our news blogs at blog.nctimes.com. Looking to the sky for a water supply By JENNIFER KABBANY - Staff Writer RIVERSIDE ---- Humans have harvested rainwater for thousands of years.The Mayans constructed elaborate systems of terraces and underground tanks to capture water during their rainy seasons to use year-round. Today, some landscapers install underground tanks for homeowners to collect rain with which to later water lawns. But a universal product that can be used to collect rain for thousands of homeowners and corporations alike and save it for a sunny day is far from becoming mainstream.
A project generated by UC Riverside is working to change that. What started two years ago as a class assignment and a joke about Dixie cups on rooftops to gather rain has turned into a multiyear project in which a UC Riverside graduate and his instructor are now seeking to reintroduce the old water conservation method and turn it into the latest trend.Their so-called rooftop rainwater harvesting project earned two $10,000 grants late last year and is now in the running to earn another $75,000 this May from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to further develop the idea.Right now, the concept is mostly on paper, but the idea is to somehow funnel rain that hits rooftops into a filtration system that then empties into containers built into homes or businesses. Those containers would be connected to systems that supply water to things such as toilets, dishwashers and sprinklers.Solution to water shortages?The project will compete in the EPA's second annual competition called 'P3 People, Prosperity, Planet' in Washington, D.C. The event is designed to encourage college students to come up with creative and innovative ways to conserve natural resources and provide alternative fuels.Underscoring the project's practical uses, its other main intention is to draw attention to rooftop rainwater harvesting as a possible solution to water shortages in the country and throughout the world, said Roland Cusick, a recent UC Riverside graduate leading the project's progression.'There are 1.6 billion people in the world who do not have access to drinking water,' Cusick said, citing a commonly accepted statistic in the scientific community. 'Think about Mexico. Its water is almost brown. You can't drink it.'Cusick said his aim is to create a product that can not only be used in America by installing above-ground tanks in homes and large corporate buildings as they are constructed, but also for homes and businesses in Third World nations.'It can be applied anywhere,' he said.The rooftop rainwater harvesting concept was developed two years ago by Cusick and four other students ---- Greg Guillen, Steven Gebelin, Andrew Chin and Temitope Ogunyoku --- as they worked on their senior class project.Ontario the testIn October 2004, the students got a jump-start on their project before the class began in January so they could enter it into two grant competitions, one from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and the other from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.Focusing on the city of Ontario because of its steady rainfall, rapid growth and preponderance of warehouses and rooftops, the students culled data from various sources and plugged it into a computer model that considered variables, such as tank sizes and lawn and roof areas.They ultimately determined that rainwater harvesting in Ontario could collect more than 2,200 acre-feet of water per year, enough to meet the domestic needs of some 15,000 people each year.Armed with that data, in early 2005 the students entered their project ---- which at this point was only on paper ---- in the two grant competitions.Eight months later, in September, they learned that they had been awarded $10,000 from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. In December, they learned they had been awarded another $10,000 from the Environmental Protection Agency.But the news came after all of the students except Cusick has graduated from UC Riverside.Cusick, who graduated last December, used the $20,000 to continue the project with help from chemical and environmental engineering lecturer Kawai Tam, who originally issued the students the class assignment, as well as several undergrads.Home potential?They created a minisystem at the Riverside campus to gather more data in preparation for the P3 competition.
University officials would not allow a large tank to hold the collected rain water on the campus as part of the data gathering, but they did give permission to funnel rainfall from a portion of a large building on the campus into a measuring system.'Originally, the (grant) proposal was to purchase a tank that would hold all the rainwater that would come,' Tam said. 'We couldn't actually implement that. What the students then did was design an open-channelled weir system that would be able to measure the flow rate and also measure the quality of the water that comes off one of the roofs of our engineering building.'There was enough rain last winter and the beginning of this spring that fell on just 5,300-square-feet of rooftop space at the campus to collect 18,500 gallons of water, Cusick said.'You can see how if this was applied to an industrial area with all that flat space, how much rainfall could be saved,' Cusick said.To make large storage tanks feasible, Cusick is working on a design that calls for the tanks to be built inside and flanking the walls of homes and businesses. The tanks could supply water to toilets, sprinkler systems, dishwashers, showers and other outlets.Tam said the tank design is ideally applicable to homes and businesses prior to construction, that it would be difficult to retrofit such a system into an established home or business. However, she said it can be done.Affordability issueThe notion of installing the rainwater harvesting equipment into homes as they are built has potential, said Borre Winckel, executive director of the Riverside County chapter of the Building Industry Association of Southern California.He said a trend toward a so-called 'green build' philosophy has developers using different concepts to create environmentally friendly homes in master-planned communities.
And some custom-built homes already employ similar concepts, he said.Nevertheless, he said, for large-scale housing developments, the bottom line for most developers remains cost and affordability.'Builders, although you might think they are a highly speculative group, they do have an outlay of every house,' Winckel said. 'These homes have to sell, and they are very risk adverse to putting in doodads that might have the house sitting there for a while.'Cusick and Tam said that, despite the potential high cost of implementing such a system, they hope it catches on. Tam added that there are tax incentives that could help offset any costs.'Everybody knows that people like spending money on helping the environment,' Cusick said.Winning $75,000 next month would help take the design to the next step, they said.Saving money, waterAs for the quality of the water, Cusick said it's not an issue.'There is no danger of the water being contaminated if it is filtered prior to entering the tank,' Cusick said. 'The tank is a closed system, so it would be impossible for mosquitoes to gain access.'Melodie Johnson, spokeswoman for the Western Municipal Water District, a regional water wholesaler that buys water from the Metropolitan Water District and distributes water to western Riverside County cities and districts in a 510-square-mile area, said the agencies hand out grants to conservation ideas with potential.'We will have to see at the end of the day if the project is viable,' she said of the UC Riverside project.However, homeowners are learning that water conservation measures can, in the long run, save money on water bills, she said. And another possible benefit of rooftop rainwater harvesting could come from its application on an overall region, she said. If a region can save enough water through rooftop rainwater harvesting, its homeowners and businesses don't have to build, for example, an $80 million water pipeline, she said.'If you are going to have a whole development or community saying 'This is what we want to put in our community,' then you get the benefits of avoiding major capital investments (in pipelines and other water-delivery systems),' she said. 'It's a win-win situation for consumers and water agencies.'Contact staff writer Jennifer Kabbany at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2625, or jkabbany@californian.com. Previous Story Wine Country man finds path to citizenship not always smooth Next Story Program connects students, teaches lessons |
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