Summer 2008

Rose-Hulman Going Green

Rose-Hulman students are gaining the general knowledge necessary to form their own opinions about energy and the environment through new campus educational initiatives, design projects and research programs that strive to create engineers who are better environmental citizens.

A new elective course is teaching energy and the environment from an engineering perspective. Topics covered included fossil fuel-based technologies (coal, oil and natural gas), renewable or carbon-free energy sources (wind, solar, nuclear and hydrogen), carbon and energy balances, and climate modeling for the Earth. Nineteen students participated in the course, taught by Jessica Anderson, visiting professor of chemical engineering who has been active in green engineering. The class was composed of a mixture of juniors and seniors in several majors, including chemical engineering, civil engineering and engineering management.

“I feel that every engineering major should be exposed to ‘environmental engineering,’ if not just to realize the large impact that engineers have on the technology and health of the planet, and what can be done to ‘green’ the world,” states Anderson.

Two-thirds of the course’s students agreed that the course made them more interested in changing their energy consumption through conservation. All of the students agree that they would incorporate green thinking into their future project designs.

“Hopefully this impact (creating environmentally conscious engineers) will be realized in the future for Rose-Hulman engineers,” Anderson stated. She believes that continuing to offer the course could make Rose- Hulman a more environmentally friendly institution.

Coming Up With Creative Ideas
Turbine and hydropower facilities, geothermal heat pump systems and cost-cutting lighting control systems were among several solutions developed by junior students in hopes of making the campus and Terre Haute community more sustainable. The ideas were part research for a final poster presentation and paper that culminated a winter technical communications course taught by English professors Jessica Livingston, Corey Taylor and Julia Williams.

Installing motion detectors and timing devices in classrooms were sustainable ideas advocated by one team. Another group proposed an integrated solar thermal heating and cooling system for campus academic buildings and residence halls.

For Terre Haute, one group proposed that switching school buses to biodiesel could improve fuel economy and emissions, while lowering daily operating costs. A team also proposed a hydropower facility for the community.

“There were a lot of original ideas developed by our students,” Taylor said.

Student Advocates for Clean Water
Mark Ellis, a senior biomedical engineering major, joined college students from around the country in urging Congress to reinvest in America’s aging water systems as part of World Water Day, an international day of action founded by the United Nations to address the lack of safe water around the world.

Later, Ellis spent two weeks in Haiti collecting soil samples for a study at Rose-Hulman that is examining what vegetation could thrive on the country’s barren lands created by deforestation.

“Water is something that should be safe, clean and affordable for everyone,�h stated Ellis, whose extensive travel experiences (from Australia to Japan to Haiti) have provided firsthand knowledge of the global water crisis, and motivated him to seek local solutions.

Ellis is among the next generation of water activists committed to keeping tap water clean and safe for all Americans.

"We don't want water to be the oil of the 21st century," he stated.

Research Examines Bio-Fuel Possibilities
The possibility of developing biobased fuels that could improve fuel economy and lubricity while also reducing damage to engine parts is part of an ongoing research project being conducted by chemistry, mechanical engineering and chemical engineering faculty and students.

Aspects of the project have included focusing on developing a bio-based oil to be mixed with gasoline for spark ignition two-cycle engines (23 cc Poulan WeedEater leaf blower); developing an ethanol-based fuel for spark ignition automobile engines (Chevrolet 305 CW V8) that would not contain any gasoline; examining ways to produce salt-free biodiesel fuels; and studying the surface interactions of bio-oils and engine materials.

The project is being led by Michael Mueller, head of the Department of Chemistry, and supervised by mechanical engineering professors Patrick Cunningham and Allen White. The results of the two-cycle oil study were presented at the Society of Automotive Engineers�f 2008 Powertrains: Fuel and Lubricants Congress in June.