Monday, May 20, 2013 | By Great Energy Challenge | No Comments
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. Almost right at the start line, the KERS system had an unexplained malfunction, but after some desperate system restarts the KERS was finely charging the super capacitor. Expectations were high, as we expected the KERS to regain energy enough for 50 extra kilometers on top of the 612km we made yesterday without KERS.
The result was delivered, a disappointing 502km. What went wrong? Immediately after leaving the track, we inspected the car and found that the 20-kilogram luggage had broken off the hinge and was resting on the KERS pinwheel. Running the car without suspension on this last run induced too much stress, and the aluminium luggage hinge came off.
Gluing on carbon fibre has, in all, been somewhat of a challenge. Also, choosing the right resin (glue) and procedures is difficult, and requires some further testing.
So until next year, the best record in the popular Urban Concept class is still defended by DTU Roadrunners from Denmark’s from Denmark’s Technical University at 612.3 km/l.
Thanks to Pascal Mikkesen for this post: Pascal is an engineering student at the Technical University of Denmark. He’s been a part of the Danish DTU Roadrunners eco car team since summer 2012 as the official team leader.
Monday, May 20, 2013 | By Great Energy Challenge | No Comments
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.
A pretty big spread, isn’t it? And there are several reasons why some places pump out more carbon per person than others:
Economics: Some states have economies that produce more carbon than others. The top five per-capita states (Wyoming, North Dakota, Alaska, West Virginia and Louisiana) are all big fossil-fuel producers, and you can’t produce fossil fuels without also using fossil fuels to extract and process them. By contrast, New York and Washington D.C. are dominated by office work: finance, government, media and so on. People sitting in offices use fossil fuels, but not as much as people in industry. Plus, these are places with large numbers of people who use public transit as opposed to driving, thus producing less carbon.
Climate: Some of these differences can be explained by geography. Wyoming and Alaska are cold, whereas Hawaii is, well, Hawaiian. So the heating and cooling demands in Hawaii are much less.
Then again, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine are cold, too, and yet they’re near the bottom of the scale on carbon emissions. Which leads us to the third and biggest factor:
Energy choices: Vermont hardly produces any carbon emissions at all from producing electricity, and the answer is pretty straightforward: the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant supplies almost all the state’s needs. The other states with low per capita carbon profiles, like Oregon, Idaho, and New York, also get large shares of their electricity from nuclear plants or hydroelectric dams, which don’t produce any greenhouse gases.
This can be a trick question, however, depending on whether a state produces most of its own electricity or ends up buying it from other states. Wyoming and West Virginia not only produce their own electricity using coal, but they also export it to other states. So they produce a lot of greenhouse gases, even if the electricity itself is used elsewhere. In addition to its own hydropower, Idaho imports about half of its electricity, so the state’s carbon profile is low. The same goes for California, which consistently imports a lot of the electricity it needs.
All this means that the impact of energy policy varies significantly by state. Huge amounts of effort have been spent on “think global, act local” initiatives, but the impact of those efforts is going to vary. It’s useful when someone in Vermont or Idaho swaps out swap out light bulbs and buys energy-efficient appliances, but the energy saved was probably not produced using fossil fuels. Those same changes will have a much bigger per capita impact in places that get most of their power from coal, like West Virginia or Indiana.
By contrast, carbon emissions in California and Vermont most come from petroleum, so changes in the way people drive would have the biggest payoff there.
The fact is that most people around the nation don’t know where their electricity comes from, and don’t have that much say about it, at least on a day-to-day basis. If you live in the Pacific Northwest or New England, you probably get your electricity from hydropower or nuclear plants. If you live in the Midwest or South, you’re probably getting more of your energy from coal or natural gas.
Those are the decisions where the public needs more of a voice. Nationally, the trend is to replace coal with natural gas, which is cleaner than coal but still a fosil fuel (and controversial because of the technique of fracking).
But too many citizens don’t pay enough attention to the pivotal choices being made in their own cities and states. So the next time you glance at a headlines in the local paper about the plans for a new power plant or ideas for increasing solar and wind power locally, or changes that would reduce commuting in your area and make it easier to telecommute, remember these decisions are really where the action is in curbing fossil fuel use. Making your voice heard here could be just as good for the planet as ditching your old incandescent light bulbs—maybe more so.
Sunday, May 19, 2013 | By Great Energy Challenge | No Comments
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.
For Shell Eco-marathon, even though the team couldn’t use direct wind power, they sought to have as green a footprint as possible. For fuel, they used ethanol, because it can be processed from agricultural waste. Eighty-percent of the vehicle material is cork, a waste product of the wind industry. Senior Toon Gerritsen explains that the car is optimized for low carbon emissions, not necessarily low mileage. “It’s about the whole eco-footprint of the car, not only about mileage,” he explains. Still, the car achieved 522.68 km/l (1,229.68 mpg) on the Eco-marathon track.
When the wind turbine is attached to the vehicle, it is called the Anemo, named for the Anemoi, the Greek wind gods. Seeking a similar deified name for their turbine-less vehicle, the team decided to call it Apollo, also hearkening back to the daring of the U.S. space program.
Toon and fellow senior, Thys Metz, talk about the car in the video, and the team organization, called Stitchting Rootbox (Rootbox Foundation); its goal is sustainable design through collaboration.
Sunday, May 19, 2013 | By Great Energy Challenge | No Comments
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. He is legendary for his work in the first half of the last century planting thousands of trees on Mount Spil, or Mount Sipylus in Manisa. The team completed a best run of 128 miles (206.8 kilometers) per kilowatt-hour, the energy equivalent of 4,313.6 miles per gallon (1,834 km/l).
Sunday, May 19, 2013 | By Great Energy Challenge | No Comments
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. (Related: “Hungary’s Megameter: ‘Their Knowledge is Our Fuel of the Future‘”) Team member Attila Czigleczki explains that the team felt it was important for all the parts, including the engine, to be student-built.
What if you could pack and assemble a car like Ikea furniture? Students at Aston University aimed for lightweight portability and sustainability in the wood car they designed and built for Shell Eco-marathon Europe. Their project manager, Christian Mclening, explains the innovative plywood composite chassis and “flat-pack” design in the video below. In addition to using sustainably sourced wood, the car also is fueled by a hydrogen fuel cell so it has no emissions. The Aston students won the award for Eco-design in the 2012, and have modified the vehicle for this year’s competition, making it larger. But they still were assembling the vehicle on site at the Rotterdam competition, which continues through today.
Saturday, May 18, 2013 | By Great Energy Challenge | No Comments
IDEA CEU Team’s electric vehicle on the track. Photo courtesy of Shell Eco-marathon.
Dana and Lorena Ruisi of Universidad Cardenal Herrera’s Idea Ceu Team from Spain explain that their team took inspiration from nature for the shape of their car entered in Shell Eco-marathon Europe. Their vehicle is shaped like a rain drop. They believe falling rain is one of nature’s most efficient means of movement, and they believe it will prove to be a very natural and efficient method of moving their electric and solar-powered car around the track. After early runs, their vehicle was in second place in its category, with 604.36 kilometers (375.54 miles) per kilowatt-hour, the energy equivalent of 12,655.7 miles per gallon (5380.5 km/l.)
Dana and Lorena with Universidad Ceu Cardenal Herrera’s raindrop-shaped vehicle. Photo by Steve Hammond.
Saturday, May 18, 2013 | By Great Energy Challenge | No Comments
Students from Ubbo Emmius school in the Netherlands. Photo by Steve Hammond.
As a college athlete (track and field), I understand the desire to put on a good performance while on one’s home turf. So when I was talking to high school students from Team Ubbo Emmius from the Netherlands at Shell Eco-marathon Europe, I expected them to feel the same way about “home field advantage” giving them an upper hand on the competition in Rotterdam.
To my surprise, they didn’t see it that way at all. “Not only do we want to do well, we also want to see all of the other teams do well,” they said in our conversation. “We don’t really feel any kind of rivalry with other countries or teams.” Rather than seeing this event as 200 separate teams competing against each other for a single prize, they saw all the teams coming together as one family, to help each other find a way to better the Earth. They may very well have been the youngest team I talked to, but they also seemed to see the bigger picture a little bit clearer than many others. They were not just competing for their team, their school, or even their country, but for the whole world. To me, that is pretty special.
When asked by the Wingate University dean of sport sciences if I would like to take a trip to Rotterdam, I said “Absolutely!” before I even fully understood what I was getting into. When I found out the details and that I would be volunteering at Shell Eco-marathon I became even more excited. As a sport management major at Wingate University, I looked forward to the chance to see up close the workings of an international event focused on education and protecting the world we live in. It allows people of all ages to come in and not only learn about how our energy usage affects our world, but to also have a lot of fun while doing so.
The chance to come to another country and interact with many other cultures has been a huge plus; I’ve talked to other students from France, Italy, Germany, and Spain to name only a few. This interaction has allowed me to learn about other cultures as well as see their views on energy use and its effects on the environment. We only have one planet Earth, so it is essential that we all work together to find the most efficient methods of energy use to keep the world spinning round.
Saturday, May 18, 2013 | By Great Energy Challenge | No Comments
France’s Team Microjoule takes advantage of a few rain-free hours on Friday to take the lead in Shell Eco-marathon Europe 2013. The blue car pictured behind is an electric car with solar panels, WaveRider, designed by students from Universidad Católica San Antonio, Spain.
More than 3,000 high school and college students from 24 countries are gathered in the port city of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, this weekend for a race for fuel efficiency. More than 180 cars are entered in Shell Eco-marathon Europe 2013, where students design and build super-low-mileage vehicles, and then prove them on a 10-mile (16.3-kilometer) street circuit.
Rainy and windy weather has complicated the schedule, because the low-slung vehicles in the prototype category cannot compete in wet conditions. Their tires not only are slim, they are pumped to high pressure and have little grip on slick roads. A team from Salzburg, Austria nearly lost the cover over the driver’s cab in a strong gust of wind on one run, and the driver had to hold the top in place as she finished the lap.
Nevertheless, last year’s winner, Team Microjoule from the technical school La Joliviere in Saint-Sébastien-sur-Loire, already has bested its 2012 performance, with a run of 2888.46 kilometers per liter (6,794.1 miles per gallon), 55 km/l better than last year. Team Microjoule stands in first place so far in the gasoline-powered prototype division, but the competition continues through Sunday.
Microjoule’s result is not yet near the competition record it set for its category in 2011: 3,688 km/l (8,674.7 mpg), but that race was run on an more forgiving track on a race course in France. For the past two years, Shell Eco-marathon Europe has been run on the streets of Rotterdam around the Ahoy convention center, on a circuit that includes five 90° turns. Every bump in the road and every turn eats fuel, on this course as on all highways. Eco-marathon competitors attempt to curb their fuel consumption with lightweight, aerodynamic design, and also with a gentle driving technique, but they are disqualified if they drive too slowly and need to complete the circuit in 39 minutes.
Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb says it’s appropriate that the fuel-efficiency competition is taking place in the low-lying industrial city. The city is especially vulnerable to consequences of climate change like sea-level rise, and yet its economy is heavily reliant on its fossil fuel refineries and import complexes; Rotterdam is looking for solutions that will protect both the environment and the economy. “Rotterdam is working on a clean, green, healthy and economically strong city,” Aboutaleb said in prepared welcome remarks he made for the competition. Of the students competing this weekend, he said, “I hope their innovative ideas will be an inspiration for many people.”
Saturday, May 18, 2013 | By Great Energy Challenge | No Comments
Often times in the heat of competition, you lose sight of the things that matter. Saving the world is a serious issue, and energy conservation is a subject that should be tackled aggressively. But when you’re competing with others in something like Shell Eco-marathon, it is always important to step back and have some fun.
It’s obvious to see that the team Timistil from Polytech Lyon in France had fun in mind while designing their car from the paint job! The paint job has characters such as Spongebob, Nemo, and Ariel from different cartoons and Disney movies throughout the car. The intent was to remind everyone that although it is a competition you can still have fun and be creative.
