Alpha Kappa Psi, Schneider Electric, and the Office of Sustainability at the University of Iowa hosted the 1st case competition at University of Iowa. The competition centered on UI's goal of 40 percent renewable energy consumption on campus by 2020.

The competition consisted of six teams that were asked to create an innovative method to use miscanthus energy crops in place of coal in the university Power Plant. The teams used current data and methods to construct a proposal to address the sustainability goal. Case details can be found here.

XNOR, the second place team and winners of $500, presented an anaerobic digester option to utilize miscanthus, manure, and food waste from UI to create biogas, liquid fertilizer, and solids to use as animal bedding. The biogas would be piped into the three natural gas boilers at the Oakdale Power Plant. The proposal also focused on sourcing materials for the digester within a 15-mile radius of the Oakdale facility. XNOR team members were Katie Stych, finance and management double major, Sophia Finster, marketing major, Bill Rashid, computer engineering major, and Emily Glanz, computer engineering major.

The winner of the competition and $1000, Team Davis, presented a torrified miscanthus product that could partner with one of Iowa's many ethanol plants. The ethanol plant would utilize steam and energy created during the torrefication process and the torrified pellet would be used in the co-firing at the main UI Power Plant. Team Davis members were Cody Adams, accounting and economics double major, Drew Davis, accounting major, and Nick Hestbach, accounting major.

Both teams proposed innovative and fiscally responsible options for treating the miscanthus energy crop produced as part of the Biomass Fuel Project. Ferman Milster, principal engineer on the Biomass Fuel Project participated in the case competition as one of the four judges. The cases will help UI move forward with the 2020 sustainability goal and help increase the Iowa energy bioeconomy. For more information on the event see the Alph Kappa Psi Event: https://www.facebook.com/akpsi.alphaxi.cc