EPA Announces Winning Student Projects Solving Environmental Issues

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded up to $15,000 for each of 37 winning teams to pursue projects that deliver sustainable, alternative approaches to address environmental challenges as part of EPA’s People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) program.

Past P3 teams have used their winning ideas to form small businesses and non-profit organizations. Environmental Fuel Research, a 2008 P3 winner from Drexel University, incorporated their grease waste-trap biofuel technology into a business enterprise and won a $100,000 EPA Small Business Innovation Research Phase I award this year.

Since 2004, the P3 Program has provided funding to student teams in all 50 states and Puerto Rico, committing over $10 million to sustainable projects designed by university students.

Projects from this year’s teams include a new device for generating electricity from sunlight that could be used on exterior walls of buildings, extending the growing season for farmers by heating greenhouses with biomass and reducing diesel emissions for vehicles while lowering costs and improving fuel economy.

Funding for the P3 projects is divided into two phases. In the first phase, student teams submit a proposal for a project, if selected, they compete with other Phase I winners at the National Sustainable Design Expo in Washington, D.C.

At the Expo, teams compete for Phase II funding of up to $75,000. This is the 11^th year for the EPA P3 Program.

Source: The Environmental Protection Agency