On April 17th, EWB-DC had three volunteers attend the EPA’s P3 competition, serving as judges evaluating student projects from universities across the country.
EPA’s P3 – People, Prosperity and the Planet—Program is a unique college competition for designing solutions for a sustainable future. P3 offers students quality hands-on experience that brings their classroom learning to life.
The competition has two phases. For the first phase of the competition, teams are awarded a $15,000 grant to develop their idea. They showcase their research in April at the National Sustainable Design Expo as part of the competition for an additional grant of up to $75,000 to apply their design to a real world application.
The projects all centered around the theme of sustainability, and ranged from building fire-resistant homes with new construction techniques, to harvesting LED heat in buildings, to biofiltering storm runoff. EWB-DC was able to engage with students, testing their “elevator pitches” and asking probing questions about their designs and implementation process.
EWB-DC selected two teams for awards for superior sustainable design, with the honorable mention going to the University of Arkansas (LAMP PCR device for under $5: reusable apparatus for waterborne pathogen detection) and first place going to the University of California Riverside (Husk-to-Home: A Superior, Sustainable Building Material).