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.
Friday, May 17, 2013 | By Great Energy Challenge | No Comments
At Shell Eco-marathon, many things go into the inspiration behind the design of the cars. One of the most popular things that influence car designers is the culture from their country. I was able to speak with members of the Ubicar 13 crew from Portugal’s Universidad de Corilha and talk about the pieces that made up their very unique car.
The car was pieced together with cork (a native Portuguese product), surrounded by coconut, and layered with coconut threads. The makeup of the car is very symbolic of their country, and according to them, very efficient also. They believed that the coconut threads create a dimple effect similar to that of a golf ball, which gives them good aerodynamics at lower speeds.
They also choose to make the entire car with flat pieces of cork, as opposed to rounded pieces like other cars use. This is also an aerodynamic trick that they hope to use to gain an edge on the competition. With over 200 countries represented this year, the Portuguese may not have had a bad idea to use a domestic approach for a better advantage.
Thursday, May 16, 2013 | By National Geographic News | No Comments
Wind turbines rob each other of energy if installed too closely together. But the world’s fastest-growing source of renewable power still has plenty of room for expansion.
