Our participants are busy developing projects that identify effective low-carbon work behaviors that can curb CO2 emissions and save money. Check back in the week of Aug 10, 2020 when we'll announce the winners.
Students have developed carbon reduction projects with these companies
Gather data on effective low-carbon work behaviors, and build a business case for how your organization can support them in order to curb their CO2 emissions and save money.
Take on a self-driven project alongside your internship or co-op, meet more people at your organization, and make a great impression to your colleagues.
Present your project at a competition at the end of the summer, and compete for cash prizes.
The Carbon Reduction Challenge is a 10-week summer program that runs from June to August 2020.
All you need to do is fill out this form by 8pm on Friday, May 22. We'll get back in touch with you shortly after.
We'll run an orientation at the beginning of the summer where we'll teach you about the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions and simple ways you can have an impact in curbing those emissions.
You'll have check-ins with Georgia Tech faculty experts who can help you make progress on your project. We'll also update this website with resources such as templates for work emails and examples on how to calculate CO2 emissions and cost savings.
You'll write up your calculations and recommendations as a report and submit it to your organization so that they can consider implementing them. We'll provide you with a template for this report.
We'll organize a final competition where you can present your project and compete for thousands of dollars in cash prizes.
"When I was interviewing [for jobs], ... I was only asked about the Carbon Reduction Challenge, my experience, how I did the calculations, how I tried to get the projects off the ground. It helped me get my job for my next summer. So it set me up really well."
Organizations are figuring out how to adjust their internship and co-op programs as a result of COVID-19, with several going virtual. With this in mind, we have redesigned the Carbon Reduction Challenge for the summer and simplified projects to focus on surveying behaviors that have changed at organizations during the pandemic, and quantifying those carbon and cost savings.
Any undergraduate or graduate student from all majors / departments who has an internship or co-op lined up over the summer, and who has the permission and support of their supervisor.
The challenge works best if you're working with an organization, and good place to start would be groups that you're already a part of at your university. Past participants have developed carbon reduction projects with on campus groups such as their their lab or the facilities department.
About 2-4 hours per week, in addition to your internship / co-op responsibilities.
Throughout the summer, we'll run office hours with our faculty experts who will give you feedback and refine the scope of your project
And whenever you have a question or get stuck, just let us know at carbonreduction@gatech.edu. Questions like "I'm not sure where to go from here" and "I don't know how to approach this problem" are legitimate questions, so don't hestiate to ask!
Organizations are experiencing significant changes to their operations as a result of COVID-19. Looking ahead to an eventual recovery, there may be opportunities for businesses to recover in a way that curbs their carbon emissions by supporting low-carbon work behaviors. We hope carbon reduction projects can offer up some of these options.
About 2-4 hours per week, in addition to their internship / co-op responsibilities.
Students will have checkins throughout the summer with faculty experts who will help them define a project, and calculate the carbon and cost savings of the project.
Students will write up a report containing recommendations of how your organization can curb emissions and save money, supported by calculations and survey analysis.
Contact us at carbonreduction@gatech.edu.
Use this template to write up the results of your pre-survey. And watch this explainer video with guidelines on how to write your pre-survey report.
Use this template to write up the results of your in-depth survey.
Here are examples of well-written final reports that show the level of detail we are looking for:
Use this template to make a short presentation about your carbon reduction project. Feel free to customize the look and feel of your presentation.
We'll use these criteria to evaluate your project and announce the winners!
Contact us at carbonreduction@gatech.edu.