June 1, 2005—To encourage sustainable solutions to environmental issues, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently conducted the second annual People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) Award competition for university teams. The P3 Award winners are:
- Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH—design of a low-cost system that enables visual observation and interpretation of total energy and water consumption for individual dormitory floors or an entire college campus.
- Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY—design of a low cost, multifunctional solar oven for use in developing Latin American countries.
- University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC—a system to compare the costs, health and economic benefits, and performance of three drinking-water treatment technologies for developing nations.
- University of Colorado, Denver, CO—a sustainable system design to meet the energy needs of a tribal village in India, using local materials and renewable energy systems, such as wind turbines, anaerobic digesters, solar cookers, and efficient stoves.
- University of California, Berkeley, CA—use of ultraviolet light to disinfect drinking water at the point of use—the household tap or neighborhood well.
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA—management model for research labs to select less toxic, green chemical alternatives. The system inventories types and volumes of lab chemicals and links to alternative green chemical databases.
- University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI—AWARE@Home: a tool for households to monitor resource consumption patterns in real time and on-demand, and to measure the costs and impacts of specific energy conservation actions. The homeowner can see immediately the results of conservation actions in dollars saved and emissions reduced.
