The Daily Californian
Summary
A multistep plan focused on campus fleet emissions, solar paneling and the cogeneration plant won in a campus competition that aimed to achieve carbon neutrality.
The first and second place winners were chosen from five finalists. The competition was held by the Carbon Crew, a campus group committed to achieving carbon neutrality, and coordinators included rising juniors Grace Gau and Anjika Pai, as well as alumna Kaylee Holland. Alongside the group, the UC Berkeley College of Engineering and Rausser College of Natural Resources were involved in the competition. Pai said the intention of the competition was to bring technology and social issues together.
“The question we asked is, ‘How do we make our campus more carbon neutral?’ ” Pai said. “Specifically, we asked them to modify the facilities, vehicles and landscapes of our campus and combine knowledge of College of Engineering and College of Natural Resources to do that.”
Campus rising senior Julie Yu and rising juniors Jeffrey Heo, Kushaan Bahl and Sophia Krivoruchko were part of the competition’s winning team, according to Gau.
Yu and her team’s plans included turning waste oil from the dining halls into fuel for campus fleets, installing more solar panels and using carbon capture for the cogeneration plant, which provides electricity for campus, according to Yu.
“We wanted to put forth a proposal that was actually feasible,” Yu said. “It’s really important to look at what’s already being done on campus and build from that.”
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