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A List
2/11/08
SLU Team Wins EPA Grant For Sustainability Project
CANTON - A team from St. Lawrence University has been awarded a grant from the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to work on a project aimed at helping
developing nations move towards sustainability.
The EPA has awarded 64 "P3" (People, Prosperity, and the Planet) grants to
student-faculty teams representing 56 universities in 29 states. Winners
were chosen from about 100 teams who applied. Next spring, all grant recipients
are invited to Washington, D.C., to compete for the P3 Award.
St. Lawrence's project is titled "Manufacture of Photovoltaic Solar Cell Using
Plant Chlorophyll." Student leader for the project team is Reed Carr '10, of
Williston, Vermont; faculty members on the team are Associate Professor of
Chemistry Ning Gao and Assistant Professor of
Environmental Studies Jon
Rosales. They have been awarded $8,089 for the project.
Two St. Lawrence alumni, Andrew "Drew" Kozlowski, a chemistry major, and Alice Lenanyokie, an environmental studies major drafted and submitted the proposal to EPA in October 2006. Both graduated in 2007.
The project description states, "The need for renewable energy is a global
concern, due to increasing energy consumption patterns worldwide and the
inevitable depletion of the world's oil reserves. Because of the demand
for a cheap, efficient, clean and renewable energy sources, photovoltaic
(PV) cells have emerged as a viable energy source, and a promising material
for their manufacture is chlorophyll. Chlorophyll-based (organic) PV cells
show great potential for developing widely available and practical
non-fossil fuel-based energy. These organic solar cells operate on the
same principle as the familiar silicon cells. However, instead of being
manufactured at high temperatures (1900°C), organic PV cells are fabricated
using less-expensive carbon-based compounds at room temperature. We
propose to study the viability of producing chlorophyll-based solar
cells as a supplement to 'grid' electricity."
The National Academies, advisors to the nation on science, engineering,
and medicine, will convene a panel to evaluate and recommend the award
winners who will be chosen by the EPA. The P3 Award includes the possibility
of additional funding up to $75,000 that gives the students an opportunity to
further develop their designs for sustainability, implement their projects
in the field and move them to the marketplace. The next P3 Award Competition
will be held on April 20 and 21, 2008, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
The EPA launched the P3 design competition in 2004 to respond to the technical
needs of the developed and developing world in moving toward sustainability.
This national competition enables college students to research, develop, and
design sustainable solutions to environmental challenges. Support for the
competition includes more than 42 partners in the federal government,
industry, and scientific and professional societies.
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More: Read the project abstract
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