Design, Housing and Merchandising students invited to EPA P3 competition in Washington, D.C.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

6th Annual National Sustainable Design Expo

By Lindy Wiggins, College of Human Environmental Sciences Intern

(Stillwater, OK  April 20, 2010) -- Students and faculty in the Design, Housing and Merchandising  Department of the College of Human Environmental Sciences  at Oklahoma State University will have the opportunity to share their ideas and solutions for lighting, energy and sustainability before a national audience this month.

Two teams of students and their faculty advisors submitted applications for Phase I of the Environmental Protection Agency’s P3 (People, Prosperity, and the Planet) competition last fall.  The P3 competition was designed to benefit people, promote prosperity and protect the planet by encouraging the creation of innovative designs that offer solutions for sustainability.

After receiving an initial grant of $10,000 to develop their projects in Phase I, the two OSU teams will attend the National Sustainable Design Expo on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. April 24-25 to compete for Phase II funding:  an additional $75,000 to bring their ideas to the marketplace.

Oklahoma State University was one of only a few schools to receive two grants to participate in the competition.  

“Over 85 undergraduate and six graduate students enrolled at OSU, representing five different courses participated in some aspect of the study,” DHM professor Paulette Hebert said. “They participated in the pre-tests and post-test surveys, participated in field study of 3 lighting treatments, and helped to set-up the lighting treatment installations at the Pawnee Bill Mansion and the OSU president’s house.”

DHM professors Hebert, Ted Drab and Celia Stall-Meadows, Human Development and Family Science professor Jan Johnston, and graduate students Sylvia Chaney and Mallorie Mussared Dye have been guiding the students through the project.

“Each student has designed a fixture employing LEDs that an individual can use for reading,” Drab said.  “The students have constructed full-scale prototypes that will be exhibited in the DHM Gallery during HES Week and at the National Sustainability Expo on the Mall in Washington.”

Along with the faculty advisors and graduate students, undergraduate student Anna Eckhoff will also travel to Washington, D.C. to represent her teammates and fellow class members.

The first team’s project is titled “Lighting for Reading: Designing an LED Luminaire for Homes and Offices.”  The goal of the project is to design light emitting diodes (LEDs) to be used for reading in the home and office setting.  LED lights have superior energy efficiency, longer life, low costs and are toxin-free.  However, LEDs have not been created that can replace the use of incandescent or fluorescent lights for the purpose of illuminating printed materials.

The second project is titled “Overcoming Consumers’ Barriers to the Adoption of Sustainable Lighting: Considering CFLs and LEDs Across the Life Course.”  The group’s objective is to promote the use of sustainable residential lighting products by consumers.  The group plans to provide educational field demonstrations and hands-on experiences for consumers, followed by the collection and analysis of consumer response sheets.  

“Incorporating the federal grant requirements into our sustainability curriculum has been an important learning experience,” Stall-Meadows said.  “The graduate and undergraduate students enjoyed participating in the research process and they are learning the value of adopting sustainable lighting options, which was one of the goals of the grant.”

The OSU teams will compete against 40 other groups at the National Sustainable Design Expo.  All teams submit a project report and set up their designs and prototypes on the Mall to be evaluated and scored by a set of judges convened by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).  Scores from the project report and the presentations are combined to determine which teams have the best overall score and will receive the opportunity for Phase II funding.

Teams can submit applications for the P3 competition in numerous categories including agriculture, built environment, materials and chemicals, energy, information resources, and water. The National Sustainable Design Expo was created as a means of bringing together scientists, engineers, business leaders and students to create innovative solutions for advancing economic growth while reducing environmental impact.