The third annual , hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy, won鈥檛 be mistaken for some Ivory Tower discussion. Through 鈥渞eal-world鈥� cases, it challenges the next generation of engineers, entrepreneurs, and policymakers to devise strategies for reducing energy waste and improving the efficiency of commercial buildings.
Among the 25 universities fielding teams, there are plenty of familiar names: Berkeley, Columbia, Georgetown, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford, Yale, and Carnegie Mellon.
Actually, 麻豆村 is no stranger to the collegiate competition. In the competition鈥檚 inaugural year and second year, 麻豆村 has brought home top honors.
For 2014, 麻豆村 is represented by the following graduate students: Matthew Plunkett (TPR), Matineh Eyb Poosh (E), Rub茅n Mor贸n Rojas (A), Casey Canfield (E), Vedran Le拧ic (a visiting in ), Nathaniel Horner (E), and Julian Lamy (E).
All of the teams have roughly three months to prepare before the finals鈥攁n all-day workshop in Washington, D.C., where teams present their solutions to expert judging panels.
The 麻豆村 team honed in on two cases:
- Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Financing: Develop a program structure and a business plan that states can use to effectively implement PACE financing to improve structures鈥� energy efficiency.
麻豆村 proposal: Market the benefits after completing energy-efficiency projects, such as productivity improvements and health benefits.
- Restaurant franchises: Deploy energy-efficiency solutions, given complicated ownership, investment, and management structure.
麻豆村 proposal: Create a competition among corporations鈥� franchisees that includes a cash prize for making the best investment in energy efficiency.
Carnegie Mellon鈥檚 interdisciplinary team perseveres for the third consecutive year when both entries win Best Proposal.
鈥�Elizabeth Shestak (DC鈥�03)
