Students use Solar Power for "Sun Grand Prix"

     
         Friday, June 28, 2013, was featured the hottest day of the year, defining that it was also one of the best days to solar race at the Circuit of the Americas track in Texas. The event was known as the "Formula Sun Grand Prix." The cars are made by college students from 11 universities, who are putting their young engineers to the test.
         "If we had another month and another $10,000, it would probably look slick, but we had neither of those things so we use duct tape," Raul Molina with the University of Texas Solar Team said. The students design, build, and raise funds for their teams, just as any other business technique would be used for their own products.
          "There is a reason that the company is having you look at this and it's to make profit for the company and not for you to test out your cool little widget," race organizer Gail Luek said. Joel Thongson with Western Michigan University had to combine his book knowledge with a little elbow grease to get the job done. "This really applies to what most of us are going to do in our jobs so it is really great real world experience," he said.
            The solar cars have the capacity to reach speeds up to 60 miles per hour, but they were only hitting about 35 on Friday. The race continues today (Saturday, June 29, 2013) at the track from 9am to 5pm EST.

U.S. Supports Costa Rica in Clean Energy Initiatives

U.S. ambassador Anne S. Andrew joins representatives from each of the winning projects of the Clean Energy Regional Contest. Winners were announced at the University of Costa Rica Planetarium in San Pedro, east of San Jose, on Thursday

     On Thursday, U.S. ambassador Anne S. Andrew along with University of Costa Rica Vice Rector Carlos Raya had presented awards for Costa Rican initiatives to develop renewable energy and other environmental themes. Announced last year by the U.S. State Department and financed by the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA), 20 projects had entered the Clean Energy Regional Contest.
     At the University of Costa Rica Planetarium in San Pedro, east of San Jose, 5 winners had been announced. The following winners include: University of Costa Rica, with a project that will introduce the use of alternative energy including solar, wind and biomass in the coffee industry in Central America; Academia de Profesionales Solares de las Americas, which will train professional individuals on how to use solar energy in their businesses; Purdue University, with a plan to promote the use of solar energy in the Caribbean; SNV, a non-governmental organization that will introduce the use of biogas in livestock and coffee industries; and Yo Emprendedor, an association that motivates entrepreneurship with a project that will help a new generation of business owners develop green companies. These following winning projects will each receive a grant up to a total of $210,000.
      "Our countries (the U.S. and Costa Rica) are taking steps to reduce our dependence on hydrocarbons and to promote clean-energy technologies and policies as well as energy efficiency in all sectors," Andrew said. The U.S. State Department had also donated $1 million from ECPA to Michigan State University, which is currently working with University of Costa Rica, to develop solar bio-energy from waste products.