GM Fuel Cell Vehicle Demonstration

2/1/2006

General Motors will demonstrate the HydroGen3 fuel cell vehicle at RIT.

When: February 21st, 2006.

Time: 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm

Formal Presentation: 4:00 pm

Where: Erdle Commons, Building 9.

(Location may change, please check the website for updates.)

GM HydroGen3 marks an important Milestone along the way to fitting passenger cars with an environmentally friendly, alternative fuel system. The propulsion is provided by a fuel cell.

Liquid hydrogen powers the fuel cell stack, which supplies electricity to a battery, powering the vehicle and emitting only clean water.
 

Hydrogen 3 specifications

For more information on General Motor's Fuel Cell vehicles, visit their website at: GM - GMability Advanced Technology: Fuel Cell Fact Sheets

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UV Tubes Workshop

On Saturday, January 14th, 2006, ESW held their first workshop. The topic was Ultraviolet Tubes for the purification of water in developing countries.

Developing countries have poor water quality, that can cause an number of health problems. Children and elderly are the most susceptible to these problems.  The WHO says that roughly 1.7 million children die due to contaminated water supplies. Current technologies for the purification of water are either too expensive or very inefficient for the use in third world countries.

It was proposed to build a inexpensive UV Tube that will be donated to families or communities that will use it to produce adequate drinking water. The UV rays or Ultra Violet rays after an adequate exposure to the water will eliminate most if not all the microorganisms in the water. Studies are being conducted in the University of California Berkeley.

Sarah Brownell graduated in 1998 from RIT in Mechanical Engineering. She later Obtained a Masters in Environmental Engineering at the University of California Berkeley, where she started the ESW chapter in Berkeley. She has participated in several ESW events, and developed UV Tubes with case studies in Haiti and Mexico.

For pictures of this events please check the gallery here.

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First ESW Mini Expo in RIT

Sick of just sitting around talking about important issues? Here’s a chance to become a part of an organization that’s about DOING, not TALKING. Learn about what sustainability is and what we can do to ensure the future of our Earth. Hear about local volunteer work, projects in developing countries, and campus sustainability initiatives that you can be a part of!

Join us at either of our first Mini-Expo’s:

Monday, October 24th 8-9 PM

in the SAU’s Clark C Room
and/or
Wednesday, October 26th 2-3 PM

 in the Industrial Engineering Atrium in Kate Gleason

Free Pizza and Soda
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2005 ESW Conference in Austin

We are traveling to Austin, Texas for the 2005 ESW conference. The conference will be held on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin October 5-9, 2005. Hundreds of speakers will present talks, sessions, and workshops on issues of sustainability in relation to the four conference tracks of environment, business, technology, and education. Confirmed keynote speakers include Hunter Lovins, Sergio Palleroni, Walter Weber, Jr., Akhtar Badshah, Albina Ruiz, and Solange Montillaud-Joyel.

For more information on the conference click here.

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Volunteering at ST. Joe's House of Hospitality

RIT's chapter of ESW is volunteering every Friday to help out in ST. Joseph's House of Hospitality.

St. Joseph's House of Hospitality serves lunch daily, operates a men's emergency shelter, gives out clean men's clothes, provides a shower, and makes available a local phone. Holds a weekly ecumenical service on Tuesdays; and advocates for those who are homeless or on the brink of being there.

The group is helping out in anyway we can, including:  cooking, organizing clothes and stored goods, painting, and maintenance.

We plan to start conducting long term projects such as energy efficiency improvements for the shelter.

For more information on St. Josephs House of Hospitality.

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ESW Student Chapter established at RIT

Members of the P3 group have established the chapter for the ESW in RIT.

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Graduate Courses for Fall and Spring

Graduate courses in Sustainable Design (790) and Life Cycle Assessment (791) are being offered in the fall and spring quarters.

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EPA Awards $75k Grant Money

The Industrial and Systems Engineering Department is very pleased and proud to announce that a team of engineering students have received an EPA P3 Award (P3 - People, Prosperity, and the Planet) for their Multidisciplinary Design Project:

Design and Development of a Low Cost, Regionally Appropriate Solar Oven for Developing Countries in Latin America

Seven teams were chosen, from 65 teams composed of more than 400 university students and advisors, for their creativity and utility of sustainable designs.

The team displayed their final design on the National Mall in D.C. this past weekend. The award competition was comprised of a panel convened by the National Academies. The awards dinner was held on May 16th at the National Academies, where E. Timothy Oppelt (Acting Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Research and Development) and William Wulf (President of the National Academy of Engineering), presided over the ceremony and presented the RIT team with their award.

The winning teams included: RIT, MIT, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Oberlin College, University of Colorado at Denver, University of California at Berkeley, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The winning RIT team included students from Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) and Mechanical Engineering (ME). The project was completed in fulfillment of their Multidisciplinary Senior Capstone Design Requirements. Team members included: Emma Fulton (team leader-ISE), Otman El Allam (ISE), Natasha Privorotskaya (ME), Joshua Bates (ME), and Jon Steiner (ME). Team members Chris Wood and Carlos Plaz, ISE graduate students, focused on project requirements outside the scope of the multidisciplinary senior design project.

Faculty advisors included: Dr. Andres Carrano (ISE), Dr. Brian Thorn (ISE), and Dr. Jacqueline Mozrall (ISE). Additional assistance was provided by Dr. Ryne Raffaelle (RIT Physics Department), Cory Cress (Ph.D. student in Microsystems Engineering), Dr. Nandwani (international expert on solar cooking), Mr. John Wellin (ME), and Marilyn Houck (ISE Sr. Staff Assistant).

This was truly a multidisciplinary effort! The student team worked very well together, applying their complementary engineering knowledge, to design, develop, fabricate, and test several outstanding prototypes in a short period of time. These students are an exceptional group of individuals that represented the Kate Gleason College of Engineering and RIT very well.

Along with the student team, Dr. Andres Carrano deserves significant recognition for initiating this project, securing seed funding through the EPA, and providing continuous motivation, support, and guidance to this team. As principal investigator of this project, Dr. Carrano will receive $75,000 from the EPA to continue this work next year.

Additional information can be found on the links below, including an article on MSNBC.

LINKS:
To see the list of award winners

To see MSNBC Article

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