Santa Clara University

Solar Decathlon Team Wins EPA Award

’07 Solar Decathlon Team Named Environmental Heroes.

SCU’s 3rd place winning 2007 Solar Decathlon Team was recently honored by the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 9 office at their 10th Annual Environmental Awards Ceremony in San Francisco. In bestowing this honor, the EPA called the award winners “environmental heroes,” who were selected for an Environmental Achievement Award “in recognition of their exceptional work and commitment to protecting the environment.”

Each year, the EPA celebrates outstanding environmental advocates who have made significant contributions toward enhancing and protecting environmental quality. The Region 9 office seeks to recognize those working throughout several western states to protect and preserve the environment. Winners from California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii, and the Pacific Islands were selected based on numerous criteria, including:

• ability to address an environmental problem or need
• accomplishment of stated goals
• ability of the program/activity to be replicated or widely shared
• collaboration with others
• long term benefits for the environment
  

In accepting the award for the team, Agustin Fonts, senior electrical engineering student, noted that the ability to reach such a wide audience through participation in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon and to impact individuals’ ideas about what it means to act and live sustainably was particularly rewarding for the undergraduate team.

Read more about the SCU Solar Decathlon Team.

Read more about the EPA Environmental Achievement Awards.