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Small Business Receives EPA Award
Monday, August 25, 2003
NCER Staff Writer
WASHINGTON (NCER) - Powsus, Inc., small business located in Florida and Pennsylvania, has received the EPA Administrator’s Award for Outstanding Accomplishments by a Small Business. The firm – aided by the EPA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program in the National Center for Environmental Research – is working to provide environmentally safe, automatic protection for fire control in cars, school buses, trucks, and residential furnaces. A key aim of the Powsus product is to replace the chloroflourcarbons (CFCs) and halon gases used as fire suppressants. CFCs have been linked to damage in the Earth’s stratospheric ozone layer.
The Administrator’s small business awards, given annually under the auspices of the EPA’s Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, were established in 1982. The awards recognize various EPA programs, small and disadvantaged businesses, prime contractors, EPA regional offices, state and local activities, and EPA individuals who have made outstanding contributions toward the Small and Disadvantaged Business Program during the previous fiscal year.
The citation for the award to Powsus reads, “For Developing An Environmentally Friendly Fire Extinguishing System.” Powsus developed the concept for the system with SBIR funding and now has moved to the point of commercialization with the help of another SBIR contract. The product is composed of a specially formulated, fire-fighting gas contained in fire-sensitive plastic tubes.
Harry E. Stewart, managing director of Powsus, commended the principal investigator of the project, Donald B. MacElwee, for “sticking with a very tough job” that includes the goal of providing protection worldwide for fires in boats, cars, school buses, trucks, and residential furnaces. There is an average of 300,000 car fires annually, causing some $600 million in damages, with no automatic protection for car engines or passengers in the cars.