Feasibility Study of Electric Cars in Cold Regions

INE/AUTC 11.1

Effects of Low-cost Offsets on Energy Investment -New Perspectives on REDD-

Tropical deforestation is one of the major sources of carbon emissions, but the Kyoto Protocol presently excludes avoiding these specific emissions to fulfill stabilization targets. Since the 13th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UNFCCC in 2007, where the need for policy incentives for the reduction of emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) was first officially recognized, the focus of this debate has shifted to issues of implementation and methodology. One question is how REDD would be financed, which could be solved by integrating REDD credits into existing carbon markets. However, concern has been voiced regarding the effects that the availability of cheap REDD credits might have on energy investments and the development of clean technology. On the other hand, investors and producers are also worried that emissions trading schemes like the one installed in Europe might deter investment into new technologies and harm profits of existing plants due to fluctuations in the price of emissions permits. This paper seeks to contribute to this discussion by developing a real options model, where there is an option to invest in less carbon-intensive energy technology and an option to purchase credits on REDD, which you will exercise or not depending on the future evolution of CO2 prices. In this way, unresolved questions can still be addressed at a later stage, while producers and investors hold REDD options to maintain flexibility for later decisions. We find that investment in cleaner technology is not significantly affected if REDD options are priced as a derivative of CO2 permits. Indeed, the availability of REDD options helps to smooth out price fluctuations that might arise from permit trading and thus decreases risk for the producer - thereby being a complement to permit trading rather than an obstacle undermining cap-and-trade.Real Options, Energy Investment, Cap-And-Trade, REDD

Current Challenges and Outlook of Electric Snowmobile Technology - Lessons from Clean Snowmobile Challenge

Although an electric snowmobile can be constructed, there are several technical challenges to make it viable for end-users. The energy requirements are extremely variable and depend on the weather conditions. Both temperature and snow conditions add to the complexity. The battery life will be shortened in extreme conditions. For example, the snow conditions cause changes to the rolling resistance as shown Figure 1. Current electric snowmobiles have not been able to use less than 200 Wh/mi. The snowmobile can be designed to take on energy denser batteries that will be developed eventually, however currently there is limited volume contained within the snowmobile to store the batteries

Designing a Low-Cost, Light-Weight Vehicle Using Additive Manufacturing

poster abstractThe Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Jaguar team participates in several academic competitions. Both the SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge and the Shell Ecomarathon benefit from reducing weight to the competition vehicles. Using a purpose-built 3D printer the team designed several parts for the vehicles to reduce weight and become more competitive. The re-engineered vehicles have reduced weight which makes the vehicles more fuel efficient thus environmental friendly without compromising the vehicle performance

REAL OPTIONS ANALYSIS FOR INVESTMENT IN ORGANIC WHEAT AND BARLEY PRODUCTION IN SOUTH CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA USING PRECISION AGRICULTURE TECHNOLOGY

Real options theory is employed to measure the value of investing in organic wheat production using precision agriculture technology. Results reveal that an option to wait until market uncertainty is resolved is valuable. Information obtained via precision agriculture technology is also valuable to producers seeking organic certification.organic wheat production, real options theory, precision agriculture technology, Crop Production/Industries, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Designing a Low-cost, Light-weight Electric Snowmobile

poster abstractClean Snowmobile Challenge (CSC). Both years the team developed an electric snowmobile weighing less than 226 kg (500 lb). Last year a Phantom Snowmobile PD250LT was utilized as a base sled. It was powered by a NetGain WarP 7 DC-series motor and connected directly to the sprocket shaft using a Continental Silent Sync Belt. The belt itself is very quiet and can produce less than 59 dB. The team continued and re-engineered a Polaris Indy 550 to be an environmental friendly snowmobile without compromising the towing capability and produced less noise. For the second year in a row the snowmobile designed had the lowest cost at the competition. This year they used a AC motor that weighed half as much as the DC motor, allowing for the design to have increased battery capacity. The 2016 CSC was the 12th competition where SAE International Clean Snowmobile Challenge has a “Zero-Emissions” category. Global climate change brings the need for alternative transportation choices that have higher efficiency, and create fewer pollutants. There are many efficient hybrid and electric cars being produced that are creating less pollution. However, recreational vehicles creates its fair share of emissions. The Greenland Ice Cap is highly sensitive to chemical and human’s byproduct; the researchers that are located in the Summit Station require special mode of transportation to and from their research sites that do not pollute. Snowmobile trails in the Eastern US are full of riders. Viable improvements to snowmobile designs are needed. The 2016 design used students from several disciples: Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and others. We received support from MURI and ITEC

3D Printed ABS and Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer Specimens for Engineering Education

Three 3D printed plastic materials, ABS, ABS plus, and CFRP, have been studied for their potential applications in engineering education. Using tensile test, the stress strain curves of the materials have been measured. The Young’s modulus, ultimate strength, and fracture toughness of the materials are calculated from the stress strain curve. The results show that CFRP has the highest stiffness or Young’s modulus. ABS plus has strongest mechanical properties, with highest ultimate strength and fracture toughness. With the measured properties, the 3D printed samples are a viable solution for engineering students to learn mechanical properties of materials

Dynamical mean-field theory of indirect magnetic exchange

To analyze the physical properties arising from indirect magnetic exchange between several magnetic adatoms and between complex magnetic nanostructures on metallic surfaces, the real-space extension of dynamical mean-field theory (R-DMFT) appears attractive as it can be applied to systems of almost arbitrary geometry and complexity. While R-DMFT describes the Kondo effect of a single adatom exactly, indirect magnetic (RKKY) exchange is taken into account on an approximate level only. Here, we consider a simplified model system consisting of two magnetic Hubbard sites ("adatoms") hybridizing with a non-interacting tight-binding chain ("substrate surface"). This two-impurity Anderson model incorporates the competition between the Kondo effect and indirect exchange but is amenable to an exact numerical solution via the density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG). The particle-hole symmetric model at half-filling and zero temperature is used to benchmark R-DMFT results for the magnetic coupling between the two adatoms and for the magnetic properties induced in the substrate. In particular, the dependence of the local adatom and the nonlocal adatom-adatom static susceptibilities as well as the magnetic response of the substrate on the distance between the adatoms and on the strength of their coupling with the substrate is studied. We find both, excellent agreement with the DMRG data even on subtle details of the competition between RKKY exchange and the Kondo effect but also complete failure of the R-DMFT, depending on the parameter regime considered. R-DMFT calculations are performed using the Lanczos method as impurity solver. With the real-space extension of the two-site DMFT, we also benchmark a simplified R-DMFT variant.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figure

Effect of Printing Orientation on Strength of 3D Printed ABS Plastics

The mechanical strengths of ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) components fabricated by fused deposition modeling (FDM) technique have been studied, with the focus on the effect of printing orientations on the strength. Using the properties derived from stress-strain curves of the samples, the 0-degree printed sample has the strongest mechanical properties, which is likely due to preferred orientations in individual slice