PolarPanal - Solar-powered Refrigeration and the "Cold Chain"

Solar-powered refrigeration has been a winner at business plan competitions across the country, driven by a team from the University of Houston, the team created a business plan to commercialize a technology developed by NASA.

PolarPanel is a renewable energy startup that's using the NASA developed technology to transform the cold chain, or the system of production, storage and transportation of goods that must be kept refrigerated. The PolarPanel business plan targets refrigerated railcars and retrofits them with solar panels to avoid the need for diesel fuel and the resulting harmful emissions.

The PolarPanel team competed in nine competitions, winning five and taking home more than $45,000 in cash prizes, money that they will use to fund building the third-generation prototype and testing. The business plan project is part of the curriculum at the nationally ranked Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship at the C.T. Bauer College of Business and pairs teams of students with technologies that may be ripe for commercialization.

Sustainability in the news

Video: Understanding Prairie Ecology: Field Studies at the UH Coastal Center
Vitamins and minerals aren't just important for human health, but also play a role in maintaining prairie ecosystems. A University of Houston researcher is working on a large-scale experiment that examines the role of micronutrients in prairie herbivore populations, which include insects such as grasshoppers and aphids.

UH Law Center launches new post-Harvey relief program
The University of Houston Law Center received a $205,000 grant from the Greater Houston Community Foundation on July 12 that will allow the law center to launch its Hurricane Consumer Assistance Program. This program will provide assistance to people who were affected by Hurricane Harvey and have legal issues related to the hurricane and its damages, including landlord/tenant disputes and contractor problems.

What's in the Air? We Need a Comprehensive Approach to Managing Pollution
When a waterway is deemed too heavily polluted, there is a federal protocol that state and local authorities can follow to measure pollutants, evaluate and enforce cleanup of the waterway. When air becomes too heavily polluted in an environmental "hotspot," there is no similar mechanism. And people living in these hotspots too often pay the price.

Grant Provides Cullen Performance Hall with Recycling Bins
Scattered strategically throughout the historic Cullen Performance Hall are 15 newly installed blue recycling bins, courtesy of a 2017 Coca-Cola/Keep America Beautiful Public Recycling Grant. UH is one of numerous universities and organizations across the United States who were selected to receive bins through the grant.