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Western Washington University's Vehicle Research Institute Enters Two Top Contenders In The National 2005 Tour de Sol Championship
Western Washington University's Vehicle Research Institute Enters Two Top Contenders In The National 2005 Tour de Sol Championship
Published 05-12-06
Submitted by Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA)
Washington University's Vehicle Research Institute (http://vri.etec.wwu.edu/),
located in Bellingham, WA, is returning to the Tour de Sol this year with two entries and student teams. WWU sees competitions as excellent motivators for its students. "We need to get off oil, cut greenhouse-gas emissions and use renewable fuels," says Mike Seal, founder and retired director of WWU's Vehicle Research Institute. "The Tour de Sol is the only competition in the country that is helping us get to that goal."
Mike Seal has built 32 vehicles with his Western Washington University students over the years, including the vehicle that won the Grand Award in the 2004 Tour de Sol Championship. Most of those vehicles were purpose-built so they could reap the benefits of vehicle-efficiency gains due to weight reduction and aerodynamics. His students also gained experience on how to build very safe, light-weight vehicles.
This year, WWU is bringing its 2004 Grand Award-winning vehicle, the Viking 23, as well as its Viking 32 to the 2005 National Tour de Sol. Viking 23 and Viking 32 placed seventh and third, respectively, overall in the 2004 National Tour de Sol.
Viking 23, an electric/bio-diesel hybrid, was awarded "greenest vehicle" in the 2002 Tour de Sol, received first place in the "light-duty, alternative-fuel, purpose-built vehicle" category in the 2003 Tour de Sol, and captured the Grand Award in the 2004 Tour de Sol for "the light-duty vehicle with the lowest greenhouse-gas emissions." Viking 23, a purpose-built hybrid vehicle that runs on bio-diesel (a fuel made from vegetable oils), demonstrated that it emits only 61 grams of greenhouse-gas emissions per mile. This is seven times less than a conventional 27 MPG gasoline vehicle, which emits 420 grams of greenhouse-gas emissions per mile, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
Viking 32, an electric/natural-gas hybrid, uses an internal-combustion engine that is designed to run on landfill gas, which enables it run without the use of oil, resulting in greenhouse-gas emissions that are close to zero. WWU estimates it would take the waste from two cows to create the gas to run this vehicle for a year (12,000 miles). During the 2005 Tour de Sol, Viking 32 will run on compressed natural gas because compressed landfill gas is not available in the Saratoga Springs/Albany area. Viking 32 took first in the 2004 Tour de Sol in the autocross category and the 350-foot acceleration test. Viking 32 has an aerodynamic design and $800,000 in funding from the Federal Highway Administration plus $200,000 in matching funds from WWU. It exemplifies safety and fuel efficiency, and is designed and built to demonstrate new principles of energy management in an all-composite and carbon-fiber vehicle.
The 2005 Tour de Sol's immediate goal is to bring together manufacturers, energy suppliers, government officials, news media, consumers and students for a multi-day "traveling festival" and competition this May 13 through 16 in Saratoga Springs and Albany, NY. Tour de Sol's eventual goal is to turn imaginative thinking about a zero oil- and carbon-emission economy into a sustainable effort that produces substantial profits and a cleaner environment.
Highlights of the 2005 Tour de Sol include:
Monte Carlo-style Rally
Monte Carlo-style Rally vehicles are invited to compete for up to $10,000 and 35 awards for the most fuel-efficient production-hybrid or biodiesel vehicles (which can be production-line or modified) that travel a minimum of 150 miles at an average of over 55 MPG. The overall prize money includes $5,000 for the most fuel-efficient vehicle that breaks the 100 MPG barrier over a range of 500 miles.
To participate, advanced-vehicle owners must join at one of the numerous starting sites around the US and Canada. After they have topped off and had their fuel tank sealed, Rally participants must drive to the finish line at Saratoga Springs by noon on May 14. There, they will get a free fill up with gasoline or biodiesel, compliments of Stewart's Shops and Environmental Alternatives, and officials will measure the fuel used and miles driven.
There are 10 vehicle categories. Tires will be pressure checked to be 50 PSI or less and must have tread. The rally is limited to 50 entries and a total 500-person entourage. All cars must be registered, inspected, insured and meet federal Department of Transportation regulations. The winners and statistics about the Rally entrants will be gathered, analyzed and posted at www.TourDeSol.org.
Tour de Sol
Over a half million consumers have visited the Tour de Sol since its creation in 1989 by the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA), and over 40 million print and broadcast exposures accrue from the Tour each year. The Tour de Sol provides a key platform for vehicle manufacturers, students, and entrepreneurs to demonstrate future designs and current products that aim reduce oil and carbon emissions to zero. The event provides news media the opportunity to provide timely and topical updates on the status of sustainable energy and mobility.
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the Center for Technology Commercialization are the event's premier sponsors. Additional key sponsors include the U.S. Department of Energy, the New York Power Authority, Toyota, the New York State Environmental Conservation, the Federal Highway Administration, New York State Parks, Environmental Alternatives, and the Electric Drive Transportation Association. The Automotive Career Development Center in Worcester, MA, is a key organizer of the Monte Carlo-style Rally.
NESEA, the nation's leading regional education and advocacy association, is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. NESEA aims to accelerate the deployment and use of renewable energy and energy efficiency by, among other things, producing major sustainable-energy events that inspire and motivate large numbers of people to get involved and make a difference. NESEA is a chapter of the American Solar Energy Society (www.ASES.org), a not-for-profit, 501(c)3 organization dedicated to the development and adoption of renewable energy in all its forms, including solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy, hydrogen energy, ocean energy, biofuels energy, and energy efficiency.
For more information on the 2005 Tour de Sol as well as the Monte Carlo-style Rally and registration, visit www.TourDeSol.org, or contact NESEA at 413.774.6051. For more information on NESEA, visit www.NESEA.org.
To hear a 30-minute Q&A on why American car makers - especially General Motors - should fully get into the hybrid-vehicle development market, listen to "The Business Beat," produced by WICN/90.5 FM, the NPR affiliate for Central New England. The guests are James Dunn of the Center for Technology Commercialization in Westboro, MA, Craig Van Batenburg of the Automotive Career Development Center in Worcester, MA, and Gilles Labelle of the Hybrid Center at Westboro Toyota in Westboro, MA. To listen now, Click Here.
To join an online conversation on why American car makers should fully get into the hybrid-vehicle development market, visit the Edmunds.com hybrid-vehicle forum at http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/WebX?13@@.ef7a43c/16.
NOTE TO ALL MEDIA: Photos are available upon request.
Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA)
Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA)
About NESEA
NESEA is the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (www.NESEA.org), Founded in 1974, the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) is today the region’s leading membership organization promoting sustainable energy practices in the built environment. We as professionals in the fields of renewable energy and building embrace whole systems thinking as the path to sustainability, and we accomplish this by focusing on three core elements:
- Creating and supporting a diverse, multidisciplinary network
- Promoting sustainable energy solutions for the built environment
- Rigorously vetting solutions through our network of professionals - no greenwashing here.
Headquartered in Greenfield, MA, NESEA operates primarily in the six New England states plus New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, but we increasingly reach out to share ideas nationally and internationally.
About BuildingEnergy
BuildingEnergy is NESEA's annual building science and renewable energy conference and trade show. Held in Boston annually in March, BuildingEnergy is the is the most established, most cross-disciplinary renewable energy and high-performance building conference and trade show in the northeast. It attracts professionals from every part of the building and energy industry.
Learn more about this year's exciting BuildingEnergy line-up at www.nesea.org/buildingenergy
