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4.24.2006 ET

CSR News from:	NESEA-Northeast Sustainable Energy Association
News Category:	Environment

2006 Tour de Sol Is A Lab Of Automotive Innovation Driving Toward Zero-Carbon Emissions

(CSRwire) GREENFIELD, MA- The 2006 Tour de Sol, May 10-14 at the Saratoga Spa State Park in Saratoga Springs, NY, is a lab of automotive innovation driving toward zero-carbon emissions. The teams conducting their experiments and competing in the Tour de Sol competitions include inventors, students and entrepreneurs from across the United States and Canada and as far away as India.

The Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA), organizer of the Tour de Sol, invites the general public to come and see these innovative vehicles on display on Saturday, May 13, 10:00 am-4:00 pm at the Saratoga Automobile Museum's Spring Auto Show at the Saratoga Spa State Park. NESEA also invites hybrid and biofuel vehicle owners to participate in a fun Fuel Efficiency Rally, and put their vehicle on display. Also on display will be hybrid, hydrogen, electric and natural-gas vehicles produced by auto and electric-bike manufacturers as well as information about clean vehicles and clean-vehicle programs.

Teams competing in the Tour de Sol Championship and Around Town Vehicle Competition are looking for the smartest ways to reduce carbon emissions while creating a quality, affordable vehicle. Strategies include:

1) Decreasing the use of fuel by increasing vehicle efficiency by making their vehicles lighter and/or building a hybrid (internal-combustion and electric) or electric vehicle instead of using the tried and true internal-combustion engine; and

2) Switching from gasoline to some other fuel that does not emit as much carbon, even when the full fuel cycle, from production to consumption, is taken into account.

Teams compete in various technology categories and earn points for practicality, acceleration, handling and range in addition to good fuel efficiency and low climate-change emissions.

Among the 18 teams registered to compete in the Tour de Sol Championship are, in alphabetical order:

1) Delhi College of Engineering in New Delhi, India, with a one-person car;

2) St. Mark's School in Southboro, Massachusetts, with a solar- and battery-powered electric pickup truck as well as a biodiesel car; and

3) West Philadelphia High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with a biodiesel car.

Each team believes it has the right formula to be No. 1 in this year's Tour de Sol.

Among the 11 teams registered to date in the Around Town Vehicle Competition are, in alphabetical order:

1) Mount Everett High School in Sheffield, Massachusetts, with a solar-assisted, battery-powered neighborhood electric vehicle;

2) Optibike LLC in Boulder, Colorado, with a high performance pedal-assisted electric bicycle; and

3) Rochester Institute of Technology's National Technical Institute for the Deaf in Rochester, New York, with two electric bicycles.

The Tour de Sol Championship challenges students and others to build one-of-a kind, practical and highway-worthy vehicles.

Anubhav Jain is a third-year student at Delhi College of Engineering (DCE) in India, whose DCE Hybrid Car team has designed, built and entered a one-person hybrid vehicle named "Fledge," in the "Student" division of the "Hybrid & Alternative Fuel Vehicles" category of the "Championship" competition. His says his team's primary goal with Fledge is to help lower the use of petroleum gas, reduce harmful emissions and achieve a high-efficiency rating. "The current hybrids available in this world are very expensive as compared to normal cars, so we have tried to reduce the cost and we have tried to think of simple systems by not using the complicated systems," he says, adding, " We are making a vehicle for the common person in India who commutes to his office, which is in the range of about 30 kilometers. So ... he has the option [with a vehicle like ours] for electric mode, which has more range." He says it would cost about $10,000 to go into production with Fledge. To hear an approximately 2-minute interview with Anubhav Jain, by NESEA's Steve D'Agostino, in MP3 format, visitAnubhav Jain.

Kenneth Wells is a teacher of physics and environmental chemistry at St. Mark's School, whose EV Club has entered two vehicles in the "Championship" competition. One is a 1994 Ford Ranger converted to a solar- and battery-powered electric vehicle named "Woodstock," in the "Student" division of the "Solar-Assisted Electric Vehicles" category. The other, is a 2000 Volkswagen Jetta TDI converted to a vehicle powered with 100% biodiesel and named "Moritz," in the "Student" division of the "Hybrid & Alternative Fuel Vehicles" category. Wells says he approached this project with his physics-teacher hat on, thinking that an electric-vehicle project would be great for his students to do. "As we got into it, we discovered that inefficiency is a bad thing, from a physicist's point of view, and we became more and more aware of the environmental benefits of increased efficiency. It sort of snowballed from there." The EV Club's first build was the electric vehicle named "Woodstock," a converted pickup truck that is powered by electricity generated completely by wind and solar power -- giving it absolutely zero carbon emissions. Motivated by that experience, Wells donned his environmental-teacher hat and got his chemistry students also involved in the Tour de Sol project. He asked them to examine producing biofuel from used fryer oil -- a process quite similar to making soap and one that high school students can easily perform. The resulting biodiesel is being used in Moritz, their VW Jetta. While it produces carbon emissions when running, the plants the biodiesel is made from absorb carbon dioxide while growing so the net effect is about 77% reduction in carbon emissions compared to the original Jetta. Wells says the Woodstock electric-conversion cost about $13,000 while the Moritz biodiesel-conversion required no additional cost because switching a stock diesel vehicle to biodiesel "is about as difficult as changing a gasoline car to premium fuel -- you just put something different in the tank." To hear an approximately 4-minute interview with Kenneth Wells, by NESEA's Steve D'Agostino, in MP3 format, visit Kenneth Wells.

Simon Hauger is site administrator for the Automotive Academy at West Philadelphia High School, whose EV Team has converted a kit car and entered a biodiesel vehicle named "The Attack" in the "Student" division of the "Hybrid & Alternative Fuel Vehicles" category of the "Championship" competition. During the 2005 Tour de Sol, West Philadelphia was one of two student teams (the other was Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington) that took top honors with their purpose-built hybrid vehicles, which use biodiesel instead of gasoline. The Attack produces 85% less climate-change emissions compared to a conventional 27 MPG gas car. Several years ago, West Philly students and teachers working together in a summer program came up with the idea of making a hybrid car that was fun to drive and had high performance. Ever since, West Philly has participated in the Tour de Sol. In 2003, according to Simon Hauger, "the kids [on my team] were fascinated by the [hybrid] Honda Insight and the [hybrid] Toyota Prius and were debating the dilemma of why they weren't catching on faster [in the marketplace] than they are. What we came up with is, they're not exciting cars. They get good gas mileage but they give up performance. So their idea was to make a cool-looking sports car that did both." Hence, the hybrid Attack, West Philly's entry in this year's Tour de Sol. Hauger says it would cost about $50,000 to go into production with Attack. To hear an approximately 2-minute interview with Simon Hauger, by NESEA's Steve D'Agostino, in MP3 format, visit Simon Hauger.

The Around Town Vehicle Competition showcases vehicles that are designed to meet our transportation needs in our communities as well as student projects built for non-road use. Participating this year is a wide variety of electric bikes, trikes and scooters, neighborhood electric vehicles, and various non-road vehicles such as Electrathon vehicles and electric or solar-assisted electric vehicles.

Paul O'Brien is technology coordinator of the Southern Berkshire Regional School District. The Mount Everett High School, which is in the District, has designed and built a solar-assisted, battery-powered neighborhood electric vehicle named "Project e-3" (Project E Minus 3) in the "Student" division of the "Neighborhood Electric Vehicles" category of the "Around-Town Vehicle" competition. Neighborhood electric vehicles are for use on roads posted for 35 miles per hour or less. This year, his team will also bring an informative, exciting display, in a 10-foot trailer, on renewable energy. Eight years ago, O'Brien brought a winning team to the Tour de Sol. He says Project e-3's entry is quite competitive for this year's Tour de Sol is "Usually [used] for gated communities and small communities, primarily in the Southern warm states. We added on the rear-bed solar panels, to [enable drivers] to leave your vehicle outside in the sunlight and put a decent charge on it so that you can extend the range of the vehicle from your normal charge." Project e-3 also contains a solar-powered stereo system. "So it gives you solar sound, so to speak," he says, adding, "You can listen to your tunes from solar power as well. It's kind of a fun vehicle in that respect." Project e-3's base cost ranges from $8,000 to $9,000, with an additional cost of $2,500 to $3,000 for the solar panels and solar-powered stereo system. To hear an approximately 2-minute interview with Paul O'Brien, by NESEA's Steve D'Agostino, in MP3 format, visit Paul O'Brien.

Craig Weakley is marketing director of Optibike LLC, which has designed, built and entered a high performance pedal-assisted electric bicycle named "Optibike 400" in the "Production" division" of the "Electric Bicycle & Tricycle Vehicles" category of the "Around-Town Vehicles" as well as the "Championship's" on-road range event. During the 2005 Tour de Sol, Optibike 400 won a first-place award. Optibike 400, which is a high-performance machine, was not specifically designed for competition. However, Weakley says it has done quite well competing in past Tour de Sols because it has a low center of gravity, full suspension and disk brakes. "It really makes for quick, agile handling [and] it's really balanced," Weakley says. "In the Tour de Sol, I cruise at well over 30 miles an hour and I feel really comfortable on it." Optibike LLC plans to go into production with 125 units of Optibike 400 later this year at its Boulder facility, at a production cost of $5,500 per bike. Optibike 400 has 90% of its parts produced in the U.S. To hear an approximately 2-minute interview with Craig Weakley, by NESEA's Steve D'Agostino, in MP3 format, visit Craig Weakley.

Scott Bellinger is assistant professor of automation technology at the Rochester Institute of Technology's National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID). The school's NTID E-Bike Club has designed, built and entered two electric bicycles -- one, with pedal assist, and the other, without pedal assist -- in the "Student" division. He says the competition is a range, not a speed, race. "So now you're balancing the energy that's stored in the battery system with how quickly you extract that energy using a motor and drivetrain," he says. "Plus, the whole time, [you're] trying to be as efficient as possible so that you're not wasting your energy through heat or frictional losses either in the drivetrain or even just air friction." He says these were the "main drivers" for the design of NTID's non-pedal-assist bicycle, which is the newer of its two entries. He says it would cost in the range of $300 to $600 to go into production with the pedal-assist bicycle, which would require purchasing a conversion kit for an existing bike, and $600 to $1,000 to go into production with the non-pedal-assist bicycle, which would require building the bike from scratch. To hear an approximately 3-minute interview with Scott Bellinger, by NESEA's Steve D'Agostino, in MP3 format, visit Scott Bellinger.

For a complete list of "Championship" and "Around Town" entries go to www.TourdeSol.org and follow the links for Entrants or click here http://www.nesea.org/transportation/tour/2006Entrants.php

Two other competitions for middle and high school students that will be held on Saturday, May 13 at the 2006 Tour de Sol are "Junior Solar Sprint" and "H2Help." Christopher Mason, education director of NESEA, says they get kids to engage in problem solving so that they can bring innovative ideas to the table to help us solve the climate -change challenge that we all face. Both of these programs have kids working with model cars that have no tailpipe. One of them uses sunlight directly to produce power and the other one uses battery-stored energy, which could be produced from sunlight or fossil fuel, to generate power. "So it opens up the conversation as to where do we want our energy sources to come from, what energy sources do we want to use, how do we get power for our transportation system, and what are the unwanted outputs," Mason says. "It's wonderful not to have that tailpipe, but it's also going to be very important for students to explore renewable energy versus using fossil fuels." To hear an approximately 2-minute interview with Christopher Mason, by NESEA's Steve D'Agostino, in MP3 format, visit Christopher Mason.

Premier sponsors of the 2006 Tour de Sol are the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the Center for Technology Commercialization. Additional key sponsors are the following: New York Power Authority; Saratoga Automobile Museum; New York State Office of Parks, Recreating and Historic Preservation; Saratoga Spa State Park; Eastern Biofuels; New York State Department of Environmental Conservation; Toyota; UK Trade & Investment; American Honda; Stewart's Shops; Kurkoski Solar Electric; Westboro Toyota; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; E- The Environmental Magazine; EIN Publishing; and GreenBiz.com.

The Northeast Sustainable Energy Association, organizer of the Tour de Sol, is the Northeast's leading organization of professionals and concerned citizens working in sustainable energy and whole-systems thinking. NESEA facilitates the widespread adoption and use of sustainable energy by providing support to industry professionals and by educating and motivating consumers to learn about, ask for and adopt sustainable-energy and green-building practices. NESEA accomplishes this through conferences, K-12 educational resources, its members and chapters, its Sustainable Yellow Pages, and public events.

Results will be announced to the news media on Sunday, May 14.

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