Energy sustainability and environmental protection grants from academic and government organisations are on the rise

Projects and programs geared towards the improvement of energy sustainability, the discovery of renewable resources, and environmental protection and growth are fast receiving increasing support from the government, the academe, and the private sector through donations, grants, and increased funding. Maybe the urgency of the situation has been brought vividly to the public eye by the recent global climate catastrophes and other natural disasters, either caused by inevitable erosion of the earth’s resources or unhealthy man-made triggers such as pollution.

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No country has been spared; the advanced nations and the emerging ones and their populations have suffered massive floods made more destructive by irresponsible farming, destructive storms the effects of which could have been lessened by a stronger ozone layer and the poisoning of precious marine life caused by inconsiderate and illegal means of oil and gas mining.

The protection of Mother Nature and the sustainability of her resources have come to the forefront of government decision-makers and captains of industry alike who are contributing millions of dollars to educate the citizenry about the important role they can play in saving and nurturing the environment. Some funds go directly into creating equipment or processes that can purify water, clean toxic environments, and rebuild in rebirthing barren fields.

Just recently, the Department of Energy awarded $2 million in grant to University of Notre Dame Professor Joan Brennecke to further her studies on how ionic liquids or liquefied salts can cushion the impact of automobile-generated carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The Maryland Board of Public Works have released more than $1.2 million in funding to stabilise streams and other sources of energy in 18 counties; the money will also go to solutions that will reduce the amount of nitrogen found in these waters.

Meanwhile, in Ohio, First Energy Corp. awarded $15,000 to 18 university teachers who are devoting their time to projects that develop alternative sources of energy such as wind power and magnetism, or solar-powered vehicles that can reduce the need for traditional ones that rely on fuel. One project that has an eye for creating long-term solutions for the indefinite future is the donation of $1 million to the Florida Atlantic University (FAU) to create the Walter and Lalita Janke Innovations in Sustainability Science Research Fund, which will support the study and improvement of energy efficiency, wildlife conservation and the rise of sea level in cities and other urban areas.

Administered by the FAU’s Center for Environmental Studies, the fund will encourage the university’s faculty researchers to explore groundbreaking solutions that will not only address existing concerns about the environment and energy, but gradually and steadily educate the citizenry and solicit their participation through community events and activities.

The research fund was donated by Dr Walter and Mrs Lalita Janke, philanthropists whose core advocacies lay in the empowerment of the marginalised, especially women and children, through education and livelihood transformation. Concerns about the environment and the kind of future that future generations will face if these problems are ignored came into the attention of the Jankes after they had read the book “Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think.”

The Jankes are also driven by the knowledge that in just 35 years, Earth’s population will escalate to 9 billion people. Unless drastic and sustainable measures are implemented today, the earth’s resources will be hard-pressed to feed and provide a healthy living environment to the people living in it during that time.

In a statement released simultaneously with their $1 million donation to the FAU, Dr. Janke said, “ Sustainability is an immense challenge for society, but it also offers us tremendous opportunities to make a contribution to something that will have an extraordinary impact on our everyday lives. Lalita and I are extremely pleased to establish this fund in perpetuity to support important sustainability and renewable energy research at Florida Atlantic University.”