WWU Students Receive $75k Grant from EPA for Solar Window Design
A team of Western Washington students and one University of Washington student were awarded a $75,000 first-place grant Sunday, April 12, at the Environmental Protection Agency “P3: People, Prosperity and the Planet” competition in Washington, D.C.
The team of Chemistry, Engineering, Design and Business students presented a prototype of a Smart Solar Window at the competition. Their design is the first completely transparent window that harnesses energy from the sun, converts it to electricity and cuts down on a building’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning costs by 10 to 30 percent. The window can be operated wirelessly through a phone, computer or a building’s ventilation system, and automatically opens and closes to provide cooling and ventilation.
Western’s team competed against teams from across the country, from other universities such as Cornell, Stanford and John Hopkins.
The team was awarded $15,000 earlier in the year by the EPA to develop the prototype and bring it to Washington D.C. for the P3 competition. The team will use the $75,000 grant to further develop the prototype. Western student and project manager, James Mayther, said that the team’s goal is to receive the much-needed funding that is necessary to take the solar window to the market scale.
The P3 team:
• Team leader James Kintzele, Michigan City, Ind. - WWU Department of Engineering and Design
• James Mayther, Olympia - WWU College of Business and Economics
• Ryan Sumner, Ridgefield - WWU Chemistry Department
• Sarah O’Sell, Kenmore - WWU Engineering and Design
• Hannah Bouscher, Spokane - WWU College of Business and Economics
• Adam Slater, Ravensdale - WWU Engineering and Design
• Ashley Loper, Redmond - WWU Engineering and Design
• Tyler Dawson, Bellingham - WWU Engineering and Design
• Christian Erickson, Seattle - Department of Chemistry at the University of Washington
“The team has prepared for this competition through staying organized, constantly communicating with one another with our individual progress, and most importantly we all have a passion for participating in solving the world’s contemporary energy sustainability challenges,” Mayther, a Business and Economics major, said in a press release before the trip.
For more information on the P3 team and the Smart Solar Window contact David Patrick at (360) 650-3128 or david.patrick@wwu.edu, or Ed Love at (360) 650-4614 or ed.love@wwu.edu.