The $100,000 Lemelson-MIT Award for Sustainability
winner Lee Lynd. Credit: Mascoma Corporation
Responding to Emerging Global Needs
Inventors are, at heart, problem solvers, able to take on the greatest challenges of an era. In response to daunting threats to the stability and sustainability of the global environment, in 2007 the Lemelson-MIT Program began awarding a new annual prize. The $100,000 Award for Sustainability recognizes and rewards innovators who focus on climate change, preservation of biodiversity and natural resources, and access to adequate food, clean water, and sustainable economic opportunities for people around the world.
Award recipients include:
- Joel Selanikio (2009) a pediatrician, former Wall Street computer consultant, and epidemiologist who has merged his experience in these fields to improve the quality of life in developing countries.
- Martin Fisher (2008), co-founder of Kickstart, maker of low-cost, human-powered irrigation pumps and other simple moneymaking tools, coupled with a sustainable and replicable supply-chain model that enables subsistence farmers in Africa to become self-reliant entrepreneurs.
Read more: Full list of Lemelson-MIT award winners
Read more: About the Award for Sustainability
Featured Prize Winner: Lee Lynd's Inventive Approach is Fueling a Sustainable Solution to the World's Energy Needs
Lee Lynd is using a genetically modified microorganism to break down cellulosic biomass. To many people, that description may not mean much—until you explain that Lynd's process creates the potential to power cars, trucks, and other motor vehicles using sustainable biofuels.
winner Lee Lynd. Credit: Mascoma Corporation
Ethanol has already drawn attention as a potentially powerful source of sustainable energy, but the most common current form of corn ethanol production is expensive and energy-intensive. Because it uses the same part of the corn crop that people and animals eat, mass ethanol production would cause a substantial stress on global food prices. By focusing on how to break down the inedible part of plants, Lynd has developed a process that is less expensive and has more growth potential, producing 10 units of biofuel energy for every 1 unit of fossil energy the process uses, without competing with food production.
Lynd credits his parents, whose long careers focus on the civil rights, anti-war, and labor movements, with inspiring his own commitment to social service, and inadvertently to science and invention. "I entered college looking for a path of service, and I ended up focusing on sustainable energy sources," says Lynd. Combining studies in biology, bacteriology, and engineering has given him a keen perspective on innovating to meet global fuel needs. "Energy is the critical issue of our time and a huge determinant of human well-being and prosperity.In the future people will look back and judge us by how well we responded to this challenge."
Lynd testified before Congress and advised President Clinton on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from personal vehicles, as well as contributed to a 2004 study by the National Resources Defense Council on how to reduce America's oil dependence. He also serves as an inspiration to a new generation, managing the only graduate fellowship program in the general energy field, and supervising dozens of students who share his passion for alternative fuels.
Read more: Smithsonian's Lemelson Center interview with Lee Lynd
Read more: Lee Lynd