[ A New Record for Our Team at Eco-marathon ]

After a really hard night, with some very last minute tweaking, we installed a Kinetic Energy Recovery System on our car at Shell Eco-marathon Europe. Even though the KERS system was pretty untested, we still chose to give it a chance, since we already had already set a new record of 612.3 kilometers on one liter of gasoline yesterday. (See also DTU Roadrunners 2013: Focusing On Evolution Instead of Revolution and At Eco-marathon Europe, Testing Commences)

But nothing comes easy when pushing the boundaries.…

[ From Sea to Shining Sea, Who’s Using the Most Fossil Fuels? ]

A lot of the debate over energy and climate change has focused on changing how people live. But in a lot of ways, where someone lives is as important as how they live.

Not all parts of the United States are the same when it comes to how much and what kind of energy is used. That makes a huge difference in how to attack our energy problems.

There’s evidence for this in the latest federal statistics on carbon emissions by state and per capita.…

[ Stichting Rootbox: Sustainable Design Through Collaboration, With or Without Wind Turbine ]

A hot pink wind turbine turned above one paddock at Shell Eco-marathon Europe this year; it was the stall of the team from Inholland University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. The students, all studying aeronautical engineering, have designed a vehicle with a detachable rear end that can be changed in few minutes and converted to a wind-powered vehicle.

There’s no category for wind-powered cars in Shell Eco-marathon, but for the past five years, the Inholland students have been competing in an annual competition called Racing Aeolus, which will take place in August in Den Helder, the Netherlands.…

[ Turkey’s Celal Bayar Still Sun-Powered, With Smaller Panels ]

Students from Turkey’s Celal Bayar University’s EcoMagnesia team work on their solar electric vehicle, Tarzan II. Photo by Marianne Lavelle

Kağan Meijer of Celal Bayar University in Turkey explains the changes made to the vehicle to conform to new rules for Shell Eco-marathon Europe 2013. Celal Bayar’s car last year, Tarzan, had large over-hanging solar panels, but this year, the  solar panels needed to be smaller to be integrated into the body of the vehicle. (Related: “A Solar Car Inspired by Manisa’s Own Tarzan“)  Celal Bayar’s car is called Tarzan II, named for the first environmentalist of Turkey, “Tarzan” of Manisa,  whose real name was Ahmet Bedevi.…

[ Hungary’s Kecskemét College: Boosting Power, But Keeping Light ]

Hungary’s Kecskemét College had an amazing second-place run in last year’s Shell Eco-marathon Europe, and the team was determined to kick up its performance this year. The gasoline-powered engine is now 45 cubic centimeters, about a third larger than last year’s engine for the car, nicknamed Megameter, which achieved a performance of 2,695.5 kilometers per liter  (6,340.2 miles per gallon) last year. (One megameter is 1,000 kilometers.) But the vehicle is actually lighter, because of the use of titanium and other light materials and refinements made to the vehicle body.…