BEN CHAMPION TO DIRECT K-STATE'S MULTIPLE INITIATIVES IN SUSTAINABILITY
MANHATTAN -- Kansas State University has multiple initiatives going on to encourage the campus to go green.
The K-State administration has recognized the need for university-wide leadership of these initiatives, so Ben Champion, a 2002 K-State graduate and Rhodes scholar, is returning to campus to coordinate these efforts. Champion has been appointed to the newly formed position of director of sustainability for the university, tasked with developing a university-wide approach for addressing sustainability at K-State.
According to Tom Rawson, vice president for administration and finance, "Ben will provide leadership for sustainability efforts and be the spokesperson for K-State's initiatives in this area."
Champion will provide leadership and oversight to existing initiatives such as campus recycling and construction of green buildings on campus, but he will also identify opportunities for new initiatives, help develop curriculum, facilitate interdisciplinary research, work with students, and engage the broader community in areas where K-State can be a leader in terms of sustainability.
Champion earned K-State bachelor's degrees in chemistry, natural resources and environmental sciences with minors in Spanish and political science in 2002. He is a 2003 Rhodes scholar who in January of this year completed a doctoral degree in geography at Oxford University researching sustainable food systems.
Champion was an intern for Rep. Dennis Moore in summer 2002. He was a Udall Scholarship winner in 2000. He also was a finalist in the 2002 Truman scholarship competition. He is an Eagle Scout, a Kansas Honors Scholar, a K-State Putnam Scholar, a Howard Hughes Undergraduate Research Scholar, as well as winner of June Hull Sherrid Biology Scholarship. He was an environmental director on his residence hall floor and president of Students for Environmental Action at K-State. He is a member of Alpha Chi Sigma chemical fraternity and Golden Key and Phi Beta Kappa National Honor Societies. The son of Mike and Paula Champion, Olathe, he is a 1998 graduate of Olathe South High School.
WHAT if you could make fuel for your car in your backyard for less than you pay at the pump? Would you?
The first question has driven Floyd S. Butterfield for more than two decades. Mr. Butterfield, 52, is something of a legend for people who make their own ethanol. In 1982, he won a California Department of Food and Agriculture contest for best design of an ethanol still, albeit one that he could not market profitably at the time.
Now he thinks that he can, thanks to his partnership with the Silicon Valley entrepreneur Thomas J. Quinn. The two have started the E-Fuel Corporation, which soon will announce its home ethanol system, the E-Fuel 100 MicroFueler. It will be about as large as a stackable washer-dryer, sell for $9,995 and ship before year-end.
The net cost to consumers could drop by half after government incentives for alternate fuels, like tax credits, are applied.
The MicroFueler will use sugar as its main fuel source, or feedstock, along with a specially packaged time-release yeast the company has developed. Depending on the cost of sugar, plus water and electricity, the company says it could cost as little as a dollar a gallon to make ethanol. In fact, Mr. Quinn sometimes collects left-over alcohol from bars and restaurants in Los Gatos, Calif., where he lives, and turns it into ethanol; the only cost is for the electricity used in processing.
In general, he says, burning a gallon of ethanol made by his system will produce one-eighth the carbon of the same amount of gasoline.
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Monday, May 12, 2008
Championing KSU's Sustainability Initiatives
Monday, May 12, 2008
BEN CHAMPION TO DIRECT K-STATE'S MULTIPLE INITIATIVES IN SUSTAINABILITY
MANHATTAN -- Kansas State University has multiple initiatives going on to encourage the campus to go green.
The K-State administration has recognized the need for university-wide leadership of these initiatives, so Ben Champion, a 2002 K-State graduate and Rhodes scholar, is returning to campus to coordinate these efforts. Champion has been appointed to the newly formed position of director of sustainability for the university, tasked with developing a university-wide approach for addressing sustainability at K-State.
According to Tom Rawson, vice president for administration and finance, "Ben will provide leadership for sustainability efforts and be the spokesperson for K-State's initiatives in this area."
Champion will provide leadership and oversight to existing initiatives such as campus recycling and construction of green buildings on campus, but he will also identify opportunities for new initiatives, help develop curriculum, facilitate interdisciplinary research, work with students, and engage the broader community in areas where K-State can be a leader in terms of sustainability.
Champion earned K-State bachelor's degrees in chemistry, natural resources and environmental sciences with minors in Spanish and political science in 2002. He is a 2003 Rhodes scholar who in January of this year completed a doctoral degree in geography at Oxford University researching sustainable food systems.
Champion was an intern for Rep. Dennis Moore in summer 2002. He was a Udall Scholarship winner in 2000. He also was a finalist in the 2002 Truman scholarship competition. He is an Eagle Scout, a Kansas Honors Scholar, a K-State Putnam Scholar, a Howard Hughes Undergraduate Research Scholar, as well as winner of June Hull Sherrid Biology Scholarship. He was an environmental director on his residence hall floor and president of Students for Environmental Action at K-State. He is a member of Alpha Chi Sigma chemical fraternity and Golden Key and Phi Beta Kappa National Honor Societies. The son of Mike and Paula Champion, Olathe, he is a 1998 graduate of Olathe South High School.
For information on "green" activities at K-State, visit http://www.k-state.edu/media/webzine/green/index.html
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Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Gardening?
Does anyone have gardening plans for the summer. Is the garden at Knabe's going to get going again?
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Posted by Megan at 2:32 PM 0 comments
Labels: gardening, summer
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Monday, April 28, 2008
Home Brewed Ethanol
April 27, 2008
WHAT if you could make fuel for your car in your backyard for less than you pay at the pump? Would you?
The first question has driven Floyd S. Butterfield for more than two decades. Mr. Butterfield, 52, is something of a legend for people who make their own ethanol. In 1982, he won a California Department of Food and Agriculture contest for best design of an ethanol still, albeit one that he could not market profitably at the time.
Now he thinks that he can, thanks to his partnership with the Silicon Valley entrepreneur Thomas J. Quinn. The two have started the E-Fuel Corporation, which soon will announce its home ethanol system, the E-Fuel 100 MicroFueler. It will be about as large as a stackable washer-dryer, sell for $9,995 and ship before year-end.
The net cost to consumers could drop by half after government incentives for alternate fuels, like tax credits, are applied.
The MicroFueler will use sugar as its main fuel source, or feedstock, along with a specially packaged time-release yeast the company has developed. Depending on the cost of sugar, plus water and electricity, the company says it could cost as little as a dollar a gallon to make ethanol. In fact, Mr. Quinn sometimes collects left-over alcohol from bars and restaurants in Los Gatos, Calif., where he lives, and turns it into ethanol; the only cost is for the electricity used in processing.
In general, he says, burning a gallon of ethanol made by his system will produce one-eighth the carbon of the same amount of gasoline.
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Posted by Mike M at 10:18 PM 0 comments
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