They’ve Got the (Green) Power

Every summer since 2016, the PSEG Institute for Sustainability Studies’ Green Teams program has matched teams of students from multiple institutions and various disciplines with host organizations to tackle the sustainability issues confronting our planet.

This year, after a challenging summer of 2020, the program is back with more projects, more teams and some new plot twists. Diverse projects include everything from vertical farms to mass transit electric vehicles to upgrades for affordable housing to novel clean energy storage.

Lora Billings, dean of the College of Science and Mathematics, stressed that the need for solutions to complex global problems is urgent.

“We’re not advancing at the speed and scale required,” said Billings, who noted that the COVID-19 pandemic created a global “health crisis that quickly became a socio-economic crisis.”

“That’s why the Green Teams are important,” added Billings. “We need to mobilize everyone everywhere … to ensure a better planet for us and future generations.”

When launching this summer’s program in June, PSEG Institute for Sustainability Studies Director Amy Tuininga announced that 60 students will participate on 12 teams for summer 2021. The students come from 33 universities and 42 degree programs.

Plus, Tuininga said, “This year, as always, we are piloting something new. We are embedding a Green Team in a faculty lab to work on some cutting edge and marketable technology.” A Green Team led by Glen O’Neil, associate professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, will focus on designing, developing and testing membraneless electrolysis cells for producing clean hydrogen for energy storage applications, as well as investigate market opportunities for small-scale clean energy storage using hydrogen.

Read more on the University News Center