The North Carolina A&T State University team presented their technology to a panel of expert judges from the clean energy community at the ACC Clean Energy Challenge Final Four on April 9 at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C.

Bioadhesive Alliance now moves on to represent the southeast region in the DOE National Clean Energy Business Plan Finalsin Washington, D.C., this June.

Winning second place and $5,000 was Clemson University’s Brewcovery, whose team is developing bio-separation and bio-digestion processes to recover and refine value-added co-products from the bio-based food industry and brewery waste.

The daylong ACC Clean Energy Challenge finals event began with the Elite Eight Plus Two semifinalists, comprised of eight teams earning automatic berths from their respective ACC school competitions and two at-large teams from non-ACC schools in the southeast United States, competing to advance to the Final Four. Along with North Carolina A&T and Clemson, the judging panel selected NC State and Duke to advance in the competition. The $100,000 prize and ACC Clean Energy Cup were presented to Bioadhesive Alliance by Department of Energy officials, along with representatives from competition co-host schools NC State, Duke University, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and competition organizer University of Maryland.

“NC State was honored to host the ACC Clean Energy Challenge in partnership with Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, Wake Forest, andMaryland,” said Dr. Tom Miller , Senior Vice Provost for Academic Outreach and Entrepreneurship. “The best part of the competition was seeing the talent and entrepreneurial spirit that spans across all of the universities that participated. It was truly an impressive group of student entrepreneurs who are committed to developing real-world solutions in the cleantech industry.”

Bioadhesive Alliance’s winning technology, an environmentally friendly bio-based adhesive, is a sustainable alternative resource developed from the thermochemical liquefaction process converting swine manure to a bio-binder, while sequestering carbon and greenhouse gases otherwise released into the atmosphere.

Competition judges were impressed by the Bioadhesive Alliance team’s presentation, which was refined through the company’s participation in the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program.

Bioadhesive’s team, all from North Carolina A&T State University, includes graduate student Daniel Oldham and business development professional Mahour Parast. Civil Engineering Assistant Professor Elham “Ellie” Fini serves as the team’s technical advisor.

The Clemson Brewcovery team is developing a bio-separation and bio-digestion system to create energy and additional products from food industry and brewery waste while reducing the carbon footprint of these facilities. Those products could include bio-lipids for biofuel production, organic nitrogen and phosphorus rich soil amendments, and high protein animal feeds. Brewcovery’s team includes biosystems engineering graduate student David Thornton , sustainable agriculture graduate student Alex Pellett , environmental engineering alumna Holly Garret , and Dr. Terry H. Walker , Professor, biosystems engineering.

The ACC Clean Energy Challenge finals commenced with keynote speaker Mark Johnson , Director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), who provided insights into the future direction of the cleantech field and inspired students to continue the development of their cutting-edge technologies. Upon conclusion of the team presentations, Lee Anne Nance , Senior Vice President of the Research Triangle Regional Partnership, moderated a panel titled “Cleantech Entrepreneurship: From Seed to Start-Up to Seasoned Enterprise.” Panelists included: John Bluth , Senior Vice President, Investor Relations/Corporate Communications, PowerSecure International; Scott Bolin , Co-founder and CEO, Tethis; Tim Fairchild , Director of Global Utilities Practice, SAS; Rachele Haber-Thomson , Impact Fellow at Investor’s Circle; and Bob Kingery , Co-Founder and President, Southern Energy Management.

The ACC Clean Energy Challenge networking reception, held the evening of April 8, provided the semifinalist teams with the opportunity to network with successful entrepreneurs and executives in the cleantech sector. Speakers, who provided students with an overview of the opportunities available to their companies at various stages of the company lifecycle, from start-up to partnering to mergers and acquisitions, included: Dr. Terri Lomax , Vice Chancellor for Research, NC State University; Rob Glass , Vice President of Technology, CREE; Allan Burchett , Senior Vice President of Business Development, ABB; and Jason Sulham , Pew Charitable Trusts.

The $100K ACC Clean Energy Challenge is a business plan competition encouraging students from all universities throughout the southeastern United States to develop business plans for new clean energy companies focused on renewable energy, energy efficiency improvements and advanced fuels/vehicles. As part of the Obama Administration’s effort to support and empower the next generation of American clean energy entrepreneurs, the Department of Energy selected the ACC Clean Energy Challenge and five additional regional competitions in the U.S. as part of its inaugural nationwide network of student-focused clean energy business plan competitions over the next three years.

For more information about the competition, visit: http://www.accnrg.org/.

About the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
The DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy invests in clean energy technologies that strengthen the economy, protect the environment, and reduce dependence on foreign oil. Learn more about DOE’s efforts to promote a new generation of energy entrepreneurs at: http://www.eere.energy.gov/.

SOURCE ACC Clean Energy Challenge

Selected and trained by UNCF Special Programs (UNCFSP) Building Green Initiative and Toyota Green Initiative, some 52 students on 27 HBCU campuses serve as “Green Ambassadors.” Currently the ambassadors are competing in the 13th annual RecycleMania, a competition to see which college campus can reduce, reuse and recycle the most on-campus waste. The eight-week contest raises awareness about waste reduction programs on over 500 college campuses. Last fall Green Ambassadors participated in the Toyota Campus Prius Tour, a college tour featuring Toyota hybrid vehicle test drives, a simulated recycling center and eco-friendly games and prizes.

“Sustainability is not a new concept for black colleges; efficiency, conservation and innovation have been central to institutional survival,” said Felicia M. Davis, director UNCFSP Building Green Initiative. “Recycling is an important first step on the road to sustainability. RecycleMania is a great way to encourage students and staff to reduce, reuse and recycle while providing exposure to green economy principles and sustainable lifestyles. The cool thing is that there are no losers in this competition, every little bit helps and this is a great way to inspire positive change.”

The UNCFSP Building Green Initiative (buildinggreennetwork.org) has created a diverse network committed to increasing green building, energy efficiency, student engagement, curriculum development, research and campus-wide sustainability for Black, Hispanic-Serving, Tribal and Asian Pacific Islander institutions. The UNCF Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) Green Report surveyed sustainability activity at 52 MSIs. A special HBCU Sustainability Report will be released during a briefing on Earth Day, April 22, 2013.

RecycleMania (www.recyclemania.org) will run through March 30, 2013, with the involvement of more than 4.4 million students and nearly 1 million faculty and staff participating throughout the US and Canada. Schools compete in 11 categories to see which campus can recycle the most paper, cardboard, cans and bottles, and food waste on a per capita basis; which can produce the least amount of waste; and which recycles the largest percentage of their overall waste stream.

ABOUT THE UNCFSP BUILDING GREEN INITIATIVE

Under the leadership of UNCF Special Programs Corporation, the Building Green Initiative provides training, resources and other technical support to help campuses limit emissions and use resources more efficiently. Partners include: Environmental Defense Fund, Second Nature, US Green Building Council, National Wildlife Federation’s Campus Ecology (NWF), Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), the Billion Dollar Green Fund and others work with UNCF Special Programs to accelerate the integration of sustainable practices on MSI campuses.

ABOUT RECYCLEMANIA

RecycleMania was launched in 2001 as a friendly challenge between Ohio University and Miami University to increase recycling on their campuses. RecycleMania, now an independent program of RecycleMania, Inc., is made possible with sponsorship support from the Alcoa Foundation, American Forest & Paper Association, The Coca-Cola Company and SCA. Program management is provided by Keep America Beautiful with additional program support from the U.S. EPA’s WasteWise program and the College and University Recycling Coalition (CURC). RecycleMania is proud to partner with UNCF Special Programs, the Campus Conservation Nationals, NWF, and AASHE.

Thanks to Daniel Crudup, more than 500 Winston-Salem State University students have taken a pledge to “go green” this year.

Crudup, a WSSU junior, was selected by the university as a “Go Green” ambassador last fall, and received a $500 grant from the United Negro College Fund and the Toyota Green Initiative to finance a sustainability project of his choice at WSSU.

Crudup’s project began last fall and ended in February. His goals included implementing a “rigorous and successful recycling program in upperclassmen residence halls” and getting students and alumni to sign a pledge, committing to a green and sustainable lifestyle.

“At historically black colleges and universities especially, there’s not a lot of people talking about how to become green and what you can do to become green,” Crudup said. “And it’s not a hard thing to help contribute to that. I thought it would be easier to incorporate having fun with the green message.”

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While The Boxcar Grocer does not create artisanal foods, the grocery store is a mecca for food purity supporting the mission of the creators to make organic, high-quality foods available for everyone. To facilitate this, the Crosses have set up six vendor booths inside their store, which they call Pop Food; these stands serve as combination pop-up restaurants/farmers’ markets. In addition to the quality edibles stocked on store shelves, the Pop Food stands give neighboring blacks access to fresh, creative eating alternatives.

“It helps encourage our customers to know who makes their food and allows them to get a wider variety of healthy options into the neighborhood without having to do all the work of sourcing and cooking up meals,” Alison said.

Of the products on their shelves, Alison added, “We sell Chuice, Cu’i Watermelon Drink, Beauty H2O, Just Add Honey, and Eden Easy Beds to name a few African-American owned brands. All of these products have healthy properties. Chuice is one of our fastest-selling products. It is a non-pasteurized nutritional meal supplement that contains 45 essential enzymes and nutrients to balance out the system and provide energy for the body. It’s called Chuice because it’s kind of a juice you have to chew.” Read the full story at TheGrio.com

Alison attended Spelman College and graduated from Barnard College. The Boxcar Grocer is located at 249 Peters Street, SW in Atlanta, Georgia. The phone number is (404) 883-3608.

Photo: Alphonso and Alison Cross of The Boxcar Grocer PHOTO CREDIT: Christopher Octa

While the fact of climate change is no longer subject to dispute, students at HBCUs need opportunities to engage with researchers and scientists about the expected impacts of climate change. Eleven major international studies conducted from 1987 to 2002 all predict significant climate change-induced hazards, including increased flooding, higher mean atmospheric temperatures, higher global mean sea levels, increased precipitation, increased droughts, increased atmospheric moisture-holding capacity, increased heat waves, increased strength of storms, more energetic waves, storm surges that reach further inland, under-capacity of urban sewerage and drainage systems, increased blight, increased vulnerability of port cities, and disproportionate impacts on disadvantaged population segments. HBCU students, many of whom are from disadvantaged communities, should be exposed to the impacts climate change could have in their communities and in other population segments. Our conference intends to offer such an experience. For more information click here.

1. Alabama A&M University

2. Alabama State University

3. Alcorn University

4. Bowie State University

5. Chowan University

6. Clark Atlanta University

7. Elizabeth City State University

8. Fayetteville State University

9. Grambling University

10. Hampton University

11. Howard University

12. Jackson State University

13. Johnson C. Smith University

14. Lincoln University

15. Livingstone College

16. Mississippi Valley State University

17. Morehouse College

18. Morgan State University

19. North Carolina A&T University

20. North Carolina State University

21. Prairie View University

22. Shaw University

23. South Carolina State University

24. Southern University

25. Spelman College

26. St. Augustine’s College

27. Texas Southern University

28. University of Arkansas Pine Bluff

29. Virginia State University

30. Virginia Union University

31. Winston Salem State University

32. Wilberforce University* (not Toyota Green Initiative but UNCF member)

Bold = Not Toyota Green Initiative

This system of crop rotation was just one of many innovations brought about by one extraordinary black man: George Washington Carver.

Born a slave to the Carver family in Missouri in 1864, he taught himself how to read on the plantation. Carver survived the Civil War in his childhood, after which he attended school in Kansas. There he excelled in his studies as he worked odd jobs to support himself.[2]

Undeterred by the enormous obstacles that faced former slaves in the years just after the abolition of slavery, Carver steadfastly pursued an education throughout his early life, and applied to several schools. He was accepted to Highland University, but upon his arrival he was denied admittance for being black.[3] He was finally accepted to Simpson College in 1887, then transferred to what is now Iowa State University in 1891 to pursue an academic career in science, studying plants and botany. He earned a B.S. in 1894 and an M.S. in agriculture in 1897 and became a member of the teaching faculty–the first black man to do so at Iowa State.[4] Read the full story at Toyota Green Initiative.

For African Americans, this is an opportunity to reflect on the unique relationship that we have with environmental issues. Black communities have been influenced by their environment in significant ways. For instance, African Americans tend to live closer to urban areas where power plants are located, and are therefore disproportionally affected by power plant emissions according to the study, Air of Injustice.

By taking control of the way that we live and encouraging responsibility for our surroundings–from acting as stewards for a healthy earth, to promoting health and the elimination of pollution in our communities–we can be active participants in improving our world.

Now is the best time in the history of African-Americans to make the commitment to being leaders in environmental responsibility. TGI was designed to educate and promote the principles of a sustainable, environmentally responsible way of life to the future leaders of the black community–the students and alumni of HBCUs. Read the full story at Toyota Green Initiative.