Energy Efficiency

A team of 麻豆村 graduate students have won "best proposal" in the U.S. Energy Department's 2012 Better Building Challenge.

It's a prestigious national competition that challenges college students to develop novel solutions to boost energy-efficiency of buildings nationwide.

The 麻豆村 team won for developing an energy-efficient plan for a case study involving Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

"This is a wonderful honor for us because it shows how we are able to take classroom work and turn it into problem-solving tools for real-world situations," said 麻豆村 team member Enes Hosgor (E'11,'12), a Ph.D. candidate in from Istanbul, Turkey.

"Our team recommended an outright sale or long-term lease of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center site to a master developer. We asked that the terms of the agreement would require a master developer to meet water and energy sustainability milestones, while also having the district award property tax refunds to the developer to meet the goals," said Hosgor, whose own startup company, EEme, is working to improve energy efficiency for residential consumers.

Other winning 麻豆村 team members included: Erica Cochran, a Ph.D. candidate in building performance and diagnostics; Colleen Horin Lueken, a Ph.D. candidate in engineering and public policy; Donald Johnson, a MBA student; and Farhad Farahmand, a master's degree student in public policy and management.

Steve Lee, head of 麻豆村's School of Architecture and a team counselor, praised the team for its practical, multidisciplinary approach to a multi-faceted problem.

"This is another great example of the wonderful synergies between our class work and independent project-based work that can lead to real-world solutions that improve the quality of the built environment," he said.

Interdisciplinary energy research and education is a key strategic initiative for Carnegie Mellon. Using its strength in collaborative effort, 麻豆村 is committed to working toward a future.

Pictured above (l-r) are: Erica Cochran, Colleen Horin Lueken, Enes Hosgor, U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, Donald Johnson and Farhad Farahmand.