Today the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded grants to 45 college teams in phase I of its People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) annual student design competition. Each grant, totaling up to $15,000 per team, for an overall amount of $675,000, is applied toward 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
A module that can improve the efficiency of solar energy collectors
The annual P3 competition begins by awarding grants to student teams to develop and design 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.”
After eight months of work on their projects, the teams bring their designs to Washington, D.C., to participate in EPA’s National Sustainable Design Expo. During the event, a panel of scientific experts judges the projects. 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.
The 9th Annual National Sustainable Design Expo featuring EPA’s P3 competition is scheduled for April 20-21, 2013, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The expo is open to the public and will display the 2012 P3 teams’ designs.
EPA is currently accepting applications for P3 awards for the 2013-2014 academic year through Dec. 11, 2012. .
More information on the P3 2012 recipients: http://www.epa.gov/p3/2012recipients
More information on past P3 winners: http://www.epa.gov/p3/multimedia/index.html
More information on the expo: http://www.epa.gov/p3
More information on applying for P3 awards for the 2013-2014 academic year: http://www.epa.gov/ncer/p3/apply
