ECN Blog

The Mathworks Kicks Off EcoCAR Competition

By Jason Lomberg, Technical Editor

On August 14th, 2008, The Mathworks held the kick-off to “EcoCAR,” a collegiate advanced technology vehicle competition (ATVC). EcoCAR’s subtitle (“The NeXt Challenge”) says it all- this is the spiritual successor to “Challenge X,” a similarly-themed ATVC contest that, last year, ended with Mississippi State University taking home the gold. In speaking with personnel from the DOE, The Mathworks, and GM (all event sponsors), I concluded that the biggest obstacle to ATV’s greater viability is a lack of young, qualified engineers. EcoCAR is important not just for its design potential, but for the opportunity to field the next generation of engineers.

Year one of EcoCAR consists of design and theory. Teams will use math-based design tools, such as Matlab and Simulink, to plan their vehicle model. On the 18th, teams received on-site training at Mathworks, emphasizing familiarity with training software and hands-on mentoring. In year two, students will install their selected powertrain components and controllers into their vehicle (donated by GM), resulting in a workable prototype. The focus of year three is refining the efficiency of their respective ATV’s using the tools developed in year one.

I had the opportunity to chat with three student representatives, including Kevin Martin from Missouri University of Science and Technology, Bob Warden from Rose Hulman University, and Robert Cooley from Ohio State University. We spoke on a wide array of topics, and their insight was illuminating. Martin believed that, as an energy solution, drilling in ANWAR is misguided at best. It could take up to 10 years to see the fruits of our labors. Among the three, the general consensus was that pure electric vehicles are not viable because, at present, the infrastructure isn’t in place to recharge at your destination (the average for pure electric and hybrid vehicles is 40 miles per charge).

Stay tuned for regular EcoCAR updates. We, at ECN, wish all the students good luck. The whole industry stands to benefit.

“Green” Project Aspires to Reduce IT's Carbon Footprint 

By Jason Lomberg, Technical Editor

According to Doug Ramsey of UC San Diego, “The information technology industry consumes as much energy and has roughly the same ‘carbon footprint’ as the airline industry.” This is because of the unparalleled growth in high-speed electronic equipment, and the corresponding electricity requirements. Not only is energy necessary for the systems themselves, but as IT equipment blossoms, so does their cooling requirements. It’s an implacable scenario that currently plagues the IT industry. Similar to hipster environmentalist celebrities who globe-trot on private jets, how do you conduct scientific research into efficiency issues when your investigative process gobbles up energy?

Scientists and engineers at UC San Diego think they have an answer to this issue. Sponsored by The National Science Foundation, who will provide $2 million over three years, researchers plan to implement their “Greenlight” project. Deriving its name from its stated goal to, “connect scientists and their labs to more energy-efficient ‘green’ computer processing and storage systems,” the project aims to reduce IT’s overall carbon footprint. The nexus of the project is two Sun Modular Datacenter S20s (Sun MD), fully operable after three years. The shipping containers can store up to 280 servers, and when deployed and operating properly, are capable of reducing cooling costs by up to 40 percent.

To calculate Greenlight’s total impact, two interrelated factors deserve consideration. For one, “up to” 40 percent is a very ambiguous term. The average energy savings could be 10-15 percent, with 40 percent as a rare anomaly. This leads to the second factor. If there’s a mere 10-15 percent reduction in cooling costs (and even if it reliably hits 40 percent), how do you leverage that against the price tag of the Datacenters? How long does it take to recoup the initial investment, and move into the black energy-wise? Greenlight is a novel concept that deserves serious consideration and further study within the IT field.