AIChE co-sponsored the 6th National Sustainable Design Expo held during Earth Week on the weekend of April 24-25. The expo celebrated both the 40th anniversary of Earth Day and of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The expo provided a diverse forum for businesses, governments, and nonprofits to discuss how they approach sustainability. AIChE's participation, along with exhibiting companies advanced EPA's goal of encouraging collaboration and discussion between industry and regulatory agencies.
In addition, the Expo showcased 42 student team's projects for the EPA's P3 competition. Fourteen student teams were selected to receive $75,000 grants from the EPA to pursue and commercialize their projects. Some Notable Winners are listed below.
Appalachian State University
ASU won for their project entitled Biomass Gasification for Agricultural Energy Sources and Soil Enrichment. Appalachian State University students are working on affordable gasification production to cogenerate electricity, heat and soil amendment for agricultural production. The ultimate goal of the project is to enable communities to tap into their own local foods during winter using renewable energy and sustainably grown crops.
Harvard University, Wellesley College, MIT, and Qinghai Normal University
This collaborative project is called The SolSource 3-in-1: A Comprehensive Decentralized Solar Energy Platform. Students are working with rural
communities in the Himalayas to create awarenessabout clean energy options and promote manufacturing of clean energy devices as a source of local income. Students from these four universities are creating a 3-in-1 solar cooker, heater, and electricity generator to help bring clean energy to the rural Himalayas. Additionally, AIChE's Youth Council on Sustainable Science and Technology (YCOSST) presented its award to the same team from MIT, Wellesley, Harvard and Qinghai Normal University in China.
Clarkson University
For the first time since the inception of the National Sustainable Design Expo, two teams from the same university--Clarkson University--won P3 awards. Clarkson University News Reported:
The first Clarkson team presented a project titled "Farm Waste to Energy: A Sustainable Solution for Small-Scale Farms." The students are developing
and optimizing viable anaerobic digester technology for diary farms in cold climates with 50 or fewer cows. The digesters would utilize diary manure and other co-substrates on small farms to create biogas for energy production. The team, which is advised by professors Stefan J. Grimberg, Shane Rogers, and Rick Welsh, also won a P3 Student Choice Award.
The second team presented "Sustainable Year-Round Food Production in Cold Climates." The students are completing the design, feasibility, analysis, and impact assessment of a pilot control
environment high rise farm. The high rise farm's viability was evaluated through the system's proof of concept in laboratory testing, mathematical modeling of the material and energy requirements, and an environmental life-cycle assessment. The team is advised by Prof. Susan E. Powers.
See the complete list and photos of award winners on the EPA site. Several news sources picked up AIChE's involvement with the event, check them out here.