鈥淲hat happens if you pour Dettol into a Yakult?鈥� The joke about our love-hate relationship with bacteria is a staple of comedian , and it put jittery students at ease.
O鈥橞riain was part of a panel judging the ideas of university science students at this year鈥檚 , run by BP. Each student team had to design a technical innovation that would reduce the cost of travel in a country of their choice. This year鈥檚 first prize: a two-week internship with BP in Norway and the Shetland Islands.
In a Dragon鈥檚 Den style competition held last Friday at the in London, the teams 鈥� from Imperial College and the universities of Strathclyde, Glasgow and Oxford 鈥� were subjected to a 20-minute grilling by BP judges.
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鈥淔irst and foremost, we鈥檙e looking for technical validity: the idea has to work and be technically sound and safe,鈥� said Emma Judge, head of graduate resourcing for BP in the UK. 鈥淥riginality and creativity are also important.鈥�
Facing the Dragons
First to face the 鈥淒ragons鈥� was Green Ideas 鈥� a trio of chemists from the University of Oxford. The team devised a way to reduce the cost of car travel in China by making bioethanol from rice husks. The resulting fuel can be blended with petrol and used to power cars without any engine modifications, the team told the judges. Car owners who use this blended petrol can save themselves 8 US cents per litre, they claimed.
It was an impressive promise, but how would it measure up to a revolution in commuter travel? That鈥檚 what team HUNgineers 鈥� a group of three Hungarian students from the universities of Strathclyde and Glasgow 鈥� claimed to have come up with.
The group devised a new transport infrastructure to meet the needs of UK commuters: the majority of each journey would involve train travel, with two-seater electric cars transporting each passenger between the station and their final destination. Mains electricity could charge vehicles at times of the day when energy demands are at their lowest, the HUNgineers suggested.
An alternative car travel revolution was offered up by team Hydra from the University of Strathclyde. The trio of naval engineers proposed a hybrid car for use in Germany. Most of the car鈥檚 power would come from a battery, with a back-up tank of compressed natural gas (CNG) to extend the car鈥檚 range and efficiency by driving a generator that feeds the battery. Since Germany is Europe鈥檚 largest producer of biogas and has a still-growing network of CNG fuelling stations, such hybrid cars should be easy to adopt.
Last but not least, Imperial_Civils_2013 revisited rail travel in the UK. The trio of engineering students from Imperial College London proposed a more efficient way of harnessing the energy lost when a train brakes. Although 40 per cent of trains already use a method known as regenerative braking to store this energy, current systems have high maintenance costs. Storing the energy in lithium-ion capacitors, and converting it into electricity using a train鈥檚 existing rotors, could generate huge cost savings, the team said.
We have a winner
The result would be a close call: all the teams were articulate and unflappable when quizzed on technical details or the basis of their calculations. In the end the judges decided on team Hydra and their hybrid car. 鈥淲e鈥檙e over the moon,鈥� said Hugh McQueen, a member of the team.
The winners reckon it was the feasibility of their idea that set them ahead of the competition. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a car, it鈥檚 what people like using,鈥� they said. 鈥淩ealistically, people have gotten used to independent travel so if you make that cheaper and cleaner, they don鈥檛 have to change their habits and life can go on as normal.鈥� See above for a video of the winning team鈥檚 idea.
For those who missed the chance to enter this year, next year will bring a whole new challenge yet to be decided. And here鈥檚 some advice from Judge on how to do well: 鈥淕et a good team together, hopefully three friends with a balance of skills and knowledge. Be willing to carve out time to focus on your project and be organised.鈥�
