Verizon grant to support sustainability app contest
September 18, 2013
Marmian Grimes
907-474-7902
9/18/13
A $40,000 grant from Verizon Foundation will support a contest at the University of Alaska Fairbanks to create an app to share information about the campus' Sustainable Village student housing.
The Sustainable Village app challenge will be open to students and faculty and staff members. The goal will be to develop a user-friendly cell phone or tablet app that will provide instant information about the Sustainable Village, a community of four homes on the south side of campus. Built in collaboration with the Cold Climate Housing Research Center, the village is home to up to 16 students. In addition to serving as a home for the students, the four-bedroom units are each a separate research project studying a variety of sustainable building techniques. The students who live there have the opportunity to participate in the research projects and commit to living a sustainable lifestyle.
Verizon Wireless - Alaska vice president Demian Voiles toured the village in September, along with UAF and CCHRC officials. The grant will support the technical development and maintenance of the app. Both university and Verizon officials noted, during the tour, that the partnership between UAF and Verizon makes sense because both organizations have made energy efficiency a priority.
ON THE WEB:
Verizon Foundation - http://www.verizonfoundation.org/
UAF Sustainable Village - http://www.uaf.edu/sustainability/sustainable-village/