Ithaca High School students win new climate grant

Tompkins Weekly Staff

 

Ithaca High School students Tiden Chao and Abigail Glickman are the first students to receive the Youth Climate Challenge grant from Sustainable Tompkins. Chao and Glickman submitted their Keep It Cool: The Future of Refrigeration proposal last month, and were chosen to receive the $990 grant to pursue their innovative and unique outreach and education program on containment and reduction of hydrofluorocarbon (HFCs) refrigerants.

“HFCs replaced the ozone-destroying CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) refrigerants after the 1987 Montreal Protocol was ratified,” according to a press release from Sustainable Tompkins. “This unprecedented global accord has secured the future of our protective ozone layer, but unfortunately the replacement HFCs have a greenhouse gas effect up to 23,000 times that of carbon dioxide. The students plan to develop a website and educational materials on alternative and safe refrigerants and host a summit for local businesses that depend upon refrigeration such as grocery stores, restaurants, and food distributors to learn about the alternatives. A new global accord, the Kigali Amendment, was adopted in 2016 to mandate the phase-out of HFCs starting in 2019. The students hope to help local businesses get a jump on both preventing leakage of HFCs and the transition to less harmful coolants.”

Sustainable Tompkins announced a Youth Climate Challenge open to both middle and high school students earlier this year. Tompkins County students can apply for small grants up to $1,000 to support projects that reduce CO2 emissions or spread awareness of how climate change affects the Finger Lakes Region.

“Our grants review team was mightily impressed with the quality of their proposal,” said Gay Nicholson of Sustainable Tompkins, “and we will be working actively with the students to help our business community lead the way in phasing out HFCs.”

The grant funds can be used for numerous purposes: equipment, supplies, or services like printing. Proposals can cover a wide variety of activities to reduce CO2 or raise awareness and inspire others to take action.