Live Tonight: Pepsi Refresh Project Winner Chats About Greening School Buses

After taking a summer course at Northwestern University about aerodynamic principles, 12-year-old Jonny Cohen started to see school buses differently. He realized their boxy design makes them inefficient on the road, costing school districts thousands every year.

The budding engineer came up an award-winning solution called a GreenShield and he’ll be live with me on EcoChat tonight to answer questions about his invention.

A GreenShield is a slanted piece of Plexiglas that makes the nose of a school bus more aerodynamic.

In March, the GreenShields team won a $25,000 prize from the Pepsi Refresh Project for their design, and they’ve been featured on Good Morning America and MTV.

Jonny, now 14, hopes to purchase a retired school bus by Fall 2010 to begin full-scale GreenShields testing. For now, the team is using a computer-animated drawing of a school bus to make virtual wind simulations.

To find out more about the GreenShields Project and ask Jonny questions about his invention, watch EcoChat tonight. All you have to do is visit WWW.ECOCHATONLINE.COM starting at 8pm CST.