Energy and the Environment: Design and Innovation (2015-2016)

To explore the breadth of issues that confront our society in its need for clean, affordable and reliable energy, members of this project team worked in small groups to identify, design and prototype new energy technologies, systems or approaches. Groups addressed the trade-offs among technological design choices, environmental impacts, economic viability and other issues related to use, and developed sustainable business plans to accompany their products.

Projects include a human-powered water purification system and an urban electric vehicle, which were design projects with prototypes, and facilitating advanced materials for energy, which was a report-oriented project with resulting recommendations.

Following a semester of research and discussion, one group designed and constructed a hyper-efficient electric vehicle; a second group created a human-powered bicycle pump that feeds a slow sand filter to be used around urban water systems in order to improve water quality in Baltimore’s polluted Inner Harbor; and a third group assessed technological advances in all facets of the hydrogen economy as well as economic, political, safety and public perception factors in order to produce strategy recommendations on hydrogen production.

Timing

Fall 2015 – Spring 2016

Team Outcomes

Josiah Knight, Team Projects in Energy Design ($10,000 grant awarded from North Carolina State University, 2015)

Bass Connections in Energy: Duke Electric Vehicle Team (poster by Kate Abendroth, Max Feidelson, Charlie Kritzmacher, Henry Miller, Abraham Ng’Hwani, Anny Ning, Evan Savell)

Harbor Clean Up: How Can We Build a Human-powered Device to Clean Baltimore Harbor? (poster by Kirsten Lew, Gi Jung Lee, Cheng Ma, Megan McGufficke, Daniela Radvak, Liam Regan, Molly Rosenstein)

Strategy Recommendation for Encouraging Hydrogen Economy (poster by Collin Allen, Daniel Ketyer, Alex Klonick, Josh Lariscy)

Reflections

Collin Allen

This Team in the News

Meet the Members of the Bass Connections Student Advisory Council

Faculty Perspectives: Emily M. Klein

Interdisciplinary Teams Take a Hands-on Approach to Energy Innovations

Collin Allen, Environmental Sciences ’16

See related teams, Energy and the Environment: Design and Innovation (2014-2015) and Energy and the Environment: Design and Innovation (2016-2017).

Team Leaders

  • Emily Klein, Nicholas School of the Environment: Earth and Climate Sciences
  • Josiah Knight, Pratt School of Engineering: Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science

Graduate Team Members

  • Chris Dougher, Energy and Environment; Business Administration-MBA
  • Alex Klonick, Environmental Economics/Policy
  • Liam Regan, Energy and Environment

Undergraduate Team Members

  • Kate Abendroth, Environmental Sci/Policy (AB)
  • Collin Allen, Environmental Sciences (BS)
  • Jason Chen, Economics (BS)
  • Maximilian Feidelson, Public Policy (AB)
  • Daniel Ketyer, Public Policy (AB)
  • Talha Bin Javed Khan, Economics (BS); Computer Science (BS2)
  • Charlie Kritzmacher, Mechanical Engineering (BSE)
  • Josh Lariscy, Public Policy (AB)
  • Gi Jung Lee, Mechanical Engineering (BSE)
  • Kirsten Lew, Environmental Sciences (BS)
  • Cheng Ma, Mechanical Engineering (BSE); Computer Science (AB2)
  • Megan McGufficke, Masters of Public Policy; Int Comparative Studies (AB)
  • Henry Miller, Public Policy (AB)
  • Abraham Ng'hwani, Mechanical Engineering (BSE)
  • Anny Ning, Mechanical Engineering (BSE)
  • Daniela Radvak, Mechanical Engineering (BSE)
  • Molly Rosenstein, Earth & Ocean Sciences (BS)
  • Evan Savell, Public Policy (AB)

Themes