Vedha Masuraha ‘24

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

From Oct. 1 to 3, seniors Jack Reichert and Rohan Kapoor competed in T-Mobile’s Changemakers Competition in Bellevue, Washington, winning first place and receiving 15,000 dollars. 

Their innovation was the GoGreen filter, a filter to combat the amount of carbon dioxide used in transportation. Kapoor said, “We understand that carbon emissions and global warming are a major problem. We started doing research and learned that automobiles are the biggest factor in this, accounting for 29 percent of emissions. From there, we started figuring out how we can enhance current solutions or come up with a new idea.” 

Continuing their research, Reichert and Kapoor came across MIT professor Isaac Berzin. Reichert said, “In the cogeneration plant, they use algae as a filtration system, and they found that algae can adapt to extremely hot environments, something other photosynthesizers can’t do.” Because algae need sunlight to thrive, Kapoor and Reichert have incorporated white light to act as artificial sunlight. “We have installed four strips of light that allow the algae to still do photosynthesis, and we’ve incorporated all the necessary basics needed for algae to keep reproducing,” Kapoor said. Kapoor and Rohan then created the GoGreen filter containing algae that converts carbon dioxide to oxygen in exhaust pipes. Kapoor said, “This filter allows people to keep their current car while simultaneously reducing carbon emissions. It’s the best of both worlds.”

In regards to spreading awareness, Kapoor and Reichert competed in T-Mobile’s competition. The T-Mobile competition aims to support young entrepreneurs as they bring new ideas to the table to address global challenges. This competition strives to award innovative problem-solving changemakers. 

After receiving 15,000 dollars, Reichert and Kapoor hope to invest that money into their future plans. “We’re looking to expand and make more filters because right now we have a waiting list, but we’re currently not able to keep up with the demand,” Reichert said. “We’ve kept the price of these filters relatively inexpensive, ranging from 40 to 50 dollars, which is why we’ve been able to capture such a large audience.”

Spending approximately one year creating this product, Reichert and Kapoor have made tremendous progress so far by finding a way to create an effective filtration system for automobiles while keeping it cost-effective.