Every summer since 2016, the PSEG Institute for Sustainability Studies\u2019 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Lora Billings, dean of the College of Science and Mathematics, stressed that the need for solutions to complex global problems is urgent.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not advancing at the speed and scale required,\u201d said Billings, who noted that the COVID-19 pandemic created a global \u201chealth crisis that quickly became a socio-economic crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why the Green Teams are important,\u201d added Billings. \u201cWe need to mobilize everyone everywhere \u2026 to ensure a better planet for us and future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n
When launching this summer\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Plus, Tuininga said, \u201cThis 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.\u201d A Green Team led by Glen O\u2019Neil, 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.<\/p>\n