Jonny Cohen
Jonny Cohen has been wondering about how to improve school bus energy efficiency since he was a seventh-grader. Now a 19-year-old sophomore at Columbia University, Cohen can say he has completed his task.
“They’re an overlooked form of transportation,” Cohen told The Global Jewish News Source, who conducted a recent interview with the mechanical engineering major. “I like efficiency and for things to be efficient, and I have a passion for the environment.”
Cohen teamed up with friends and advisers from Northwestern University to start the GreenShields Project aimed at designing an aerodynamic Plexiglas air shield to the front of buses. The finished version cuts the fuel use of buses up to 25 percent by reducing drag.
“Taking something that already exists and modifying it just a little can make a big difference,” Cohen said. “We only have one earth and we can’t be wasteful.”
Despite completing the improved air shield before the school year, Cohen still spends several hours a week working on GreenShields to improve the design and efficiency, as well as working to convince more schools to adopt the technology. Currently, only a handful of buses use the shields.
