Topic
Ideas fuel the future
As the world transitions to alternate energy sources, people have to make fundamental changes in the way they operate. In this high school energy competition, your team’s task is to explore ways to enable some aspect of this transition. What types of inventions or redesigns will be needed to take full advantage of the new energy sources? How will suburbs, towns, and cities need to be redesigned? What types of behavior changes will be necessary, and how do we bring those about?
Challenges
Imagine Tomorrow lets you choose among four challenges and address the challenge you select by developing your own creative, well-researched solutions. New for the 2012 competition is the Biofuels challenge. See details below.
Challenge 1: Technology
Invent or redesign a machine or process that uses sustainable technologies for energy production, consumption, and conservation.
PROJECT EXAMPLES
- The front-loading washing machine uses much less water and energy than a conventional washing machine. Identify and redesign the next appliance or machine that will substantially lower energy use in your house.
- On long trips, most current hybrid cars primarily run on the gasoline engine. Determine what changes are required to make plug-in hybrids a viable mechanism for a 200-mile overnight trip.
- One of the challenges for hydrogen cars is the volume required for a storage tank. Identify the top technological innovations that would be required to run a larger vehicle, such as a train or 18-wheeler truck, on hydrogen. Demonstrate a prototype model using one of the key innovations.
Challenge 2: Design
Design a living/working space (a building, suburb, town, or city) that has significantly lower CO2 emissions than at present.
PROJECT EXAMPLES
- In 2007 the U.S. Green Building Council developed a new set of standards for “green” school construction, and Washington State requires new school construction to meet The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) silver standards. Demonstrate the design of a highly energy efficient high school with a model and schematics.
- As cities across the state look at developing new transportation systems, from public transportation to highways, they have to consider many issues. Design a low CO2 transportation system for a city.
- Compare the design requirements of a public building (town hall) in Seattle and Los Angeles. What “design rules” are universal, and which are more dominated by the climate, average temperature, and rainfall?
Challenge 3: Behavior
Consider the question of why people are resistant to adopting and implementing alternate sources of energy. Document a personal or social quality that contributes to this resistance, or demonstrate an intervention that can be applied at the personal, local, or societal level to encourage people to consider and adopt alternate energy sources.
PROJECT EXAMPLES
- As much natural gas is used to heat commercial buildings as is used to generate electricity in our state. Develop a set of incentive structures that could be used to get businesses to adopt alternative energy methods for heating or cooling in our state.
- The Washington state tax on gasoline is 54.4 cents per gallon. Examine the effects that raising the state’s gas tax would have on driving and transportation in Washington. Explore what share of the gas tax, if any, is spent on measures to conserve gas. If the tax were increased, how would you propose spending the added revenue to achieve the most beneficial result for reducing CO2 emissions?
- Oil refineries in Washington primarily get their crude oil from Alaska, meaning your car probably runs on oil from the North Slope. Examine the implications of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for the Northwest.
Challenge 4: Biofuels
The range of biofuels being proposed for use in transportation ranges from ethanol to biodiesel, and the feedstocks that are used to create these fuels vary around the country. Demonstrate a technological, design, or behavioral aspect of how biofuels will be utilized in the U.S. or around the world.
PROJECT EXAMPLES
- Washington State now uses more than one million gallons of biodiesel a year, and use is growing rapidly. Design a town around a biofuel plant in central Washington that minimizes energy use for the town.
- Fermentation systems to generate biofuels rely on a wide range of feedstocks, from corn to wood waste. Demonstrate a method to refine a biological product to generate a combustible fuel for aircraft.
- Growing a biofuel in a farm field is often demonstrated as a problem for “food or fuel.” Survey a farmer’s co-op to determine regional feelings regarding growth of fuel crops, and if these are displacing food crops in your region.
For information about the Imagine Tomorrow competition, please email imagine@wsu.edu.