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Gonzaga Students Win $10,000 to Bring Green Energy to Kitale, Kenya
Release Date: 11/13/2008
Contact Information: Phillip Appel, Gonzaga University, (509) 313-3547, appel@gonzaga.edu; Suzanne Skadowski, EPA Public Affairs, (206) 553-6689, skadowski.suzanne@epa.gov
(Seattle, Wash. - November 13, 2008) A student team at Gonzaga University has been awarded a $10,000 grant to promote sustainable technology in Africa. Gonzaga's "Green Energy" project is a multi-year effort to build a sustainable technology educational center in Kitale, Kenya. In the first project phase students will work to find alternate electricity sources which will be used to power the local manufacturing of water filters. The second phase of the project will provide education and housing for regional students as they learn how to produce sustainable water filtering technology, bio-mass utilization, and alternate energy.
Gonzaga's Green Energy project is one of over 40 student projects competing in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's "People, Prosperity, and the Planet" sustainable design competition.
For additional information about the Green Energy project, please contact Phillip Appel, (509) 313-3547, Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA, or visit: https://cfpub.epa.gov/ncer_abstracts/index.cfm/fuseaction/display.abstractDetail/abstract/8806/report/0
More information on the P3 Student teams and projects can be found at: http://es.epa.gov/ncer/p3/current/index.html
Please note below: EPA Headquarters P3 News Release
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Starting a New Day Around the Globe with Sustainable Energy Solutions
As part of the 43 P3 Phase I grants and six Phase II grants to winning teams from last year, a team from Appalachian State University is designing a coffee wastewater treatment system that produces ethanol and bio-gas for possible use as car fuels. Gonzaga University students are building an educational center and dormitory in Kenya, where students will learn how to implement sustainable water filtering technology and identify local energy sources.
“The beauty of the People, Prosperity and the Planet program is that it harnesses one of our most abundant natural resources: student brain power,” said Dr. George Gray, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Research and Development. “Through innovation and creativity, these student teams turn environmental challenges into opportunities that protect the environment, build new businesses, and create new careers.”
The University of California-Davis was one of the 2008 P3 Award winners. The students designed and constructed an efficient means of producing plastic from wastewater. Bacteria used in wastewater treatment processes have been shown to store a compound that can be made into a biodegradable plastic within their cell walls. The production process to create it is less polluting than the process to create plastic from petrochemicals.
An American Association for the Advancement of Science panel will evaluate the projects and make recommendations to EPA, who will choose the winners. The P3 Award includes the possibility of additional funding up to $75,000 that gives students an opportunity to further develop their sustainable designs and move them to the marketplace. The next P3 Award Competition will be held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., as part of the National Sustainable Design Expo, April 18-20, 2009.
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