Start your lesson with a discussion about
transportation and cars. What powers a car? What is
gasoline? Where is it made and how exactly does it power a
car?
Ask students to tell you stories about road
trips, gas stations and using fuel to run things.
Most automobiles used today are propelled by gasoline (also
known as petrol) or diesel internal combustion engines,
which are known to cause air pollution and are also blamed
for contributing to climate change and global warming.
Talk about the history of cars and the fuels they
use. Gasoline was not a common thing back in the 1800s and
early 1900s. The first cars actually ran on steam or
electricity. Gasoline or diesel didn’ t come into the
picture until the late 1800s and early 1900s.
•
Ferdinand Verbiest, living in a Jesuit mission in
China, built what may have been the earliest automobile
around 1672 • Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot built the
first confirmed version of a steam powered automobile in
1771
• Electric automobiles - In 1838,
Scotsman Robert Davidson built an electric locomotive that
attained a speed of 4 miles per hour (6 km/h).
•
1885-built Benz Patent Motorwagen, the first car to
go into production with an internal combustion engine.
Early attempts at making and using internal combustion
engines were hampered by the lack of suitable fuels,
particularly liquids, and the earliest engines used gas
mixtures.
• 1908- 1927 Ford Model T —
the most widely produced and available car of the era.
It is interesting to compare the design of the 1885
Benz (top) with that of the 1909 Ford Model T (below).
Discuss common fuel types used today:
• Diesel
Engine: an internal-combustion engine that burns heavy
oil
• Gasoline: a volatile flammable mixture of
hydrocarbons (hexane and heptane and octane etc. ) derived
from petroleum
Environmental Impacts (5-10 minutes
- Investigate)
What is the environmental
impact of using conventional fuels like gasoline? When we
burn gasoline what is the byproduct? The impact of the
automobile on our local environment has been enormous. From
the manufacturing process to the junkyard, cars consume
resources releasing harmful emissions into the air and
contributing to climate change, land use and water quality
problems. Not only this, but the building of automobiles
requires gathering vast quantities of metal, glass,
plastics, rubber, and other materials, and then assembling
thousands of vehicles through human and machine labor. The
production process itself consumes enormous amounts of
energy, and the factory output produces its own array of
pollutants.
Once on the road, automobiles are the
prime consumers of oil and gas, stimulating increased
drilling, transporting, and refining of petroleum products
to meet the rising demand. Since the internal combustion
engine continues to dominate automobile propulsion, cars
dispense vast amounts of pollution in the form of air
emissions, noise, used oil, and disposable parts.
How are
designers in transportation, automobile design and urban
planning addressing the need for new fuels and vehicles
that use these fuels? Discuss some forms of alternative
fuels:
• Biofuels: Fuel made from
renewable resources such as cellulose, corn or plant oils.
(debate with your students the real costs and benefits of
some biofuels that are made from corn and soy)
• Flexfuel: biofuels from ethanol like soy and
corn
• Electricity: Some cars run on
batteries that store electrical energy.
• Fuel
Cells: A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that produces
electricity from a fuel tank.
• Hydrogen:
Hydrogen is used in some alternative fuel vehicles, stored
in special tanks or produced through electrolysis of water.
What are the pros and cons of these fuel types? Why
aren’ t they used more widely? Who determines what is
used anyway? Visit the Society for Sustainable
Mobility’ s resource online: https://www. osgv. org/
to find some answers.
Types of cars:
•
Electric Car - Electric cars have a battery bank that
can be charged through solar technologies or an electric
power source.
• Hydrogen Vehicle -
Hydrogen vehicles use onboard tanks to power their
engine
• Hybrid - Hybrid vehicles
like the Toyota Prius use a combination of battery reserves
and gasoline engines to save fuel
•
Biodiesel Truck/Car - many cars with diesel engines
can be easily converted to use biofuels
Ask each
student to research a fuel and car type using the table
below. Each student should consider some pros and cons of
each fuel and its associate car type:
| Automobile
Type | Fuel | Pro | Con |
| Electric Car |
Electricity/Batteries | | |
| Hydrogen
Vehicle | Hydrogen | | |
| Hybrid
(Gas/Electric) | Batteries/Gasoline | | |
|
Biodiesel Car/Truck | Ethanol/Felfuel | | |
Investigating the System (10 minutes -
Frame/Reframe)
Now that we know a little bit about
fuels and some alternatives, let’ s consider elements
that affect the feasibility and use of alternative fuels.
First let’ s talk about the parties involved in the
production, distribution and use of fuels.
• Car
companies and designers
• Fuel providers and
companies
• Infrastructure designers and
planners
What kinds of variables affect the
feasibility of alternative fuels?
• Market
Demand
• Production costs
•
Availability of Raw Materials
• Tariffs/Trade
Policies
• Infrastructure
Discuss these
issues as a class. Conduct a survey in the community or
school. Ask students to find out who has a hybrid car or
actually uses alternative fuels in the area.
Why do they
use alternative fuels? Where are they available and for
what kinds of vehicles?
Talk with students about
designers addressing some of these infrastructure questions
now and in the future. Reference the
2010 National Design
Triennial’ s case study of the ChargePointTM
Networked Charging Station:
•
ChargePointTM Networked Charging Station - One of the
challenges of plug-in and electric vehicles is recharging
the battery. The finite driving range of electric car
batteries means that replenishing points need to be readily
available. California based Coulomb Technologies has
developed the ChargePoint Network, a system of smart
charging stations that provides curbside charging for
plug-in electric and hybrid vehicles. Since the majority of
daily car trips are less than forty miles, drivers do not
have to worry about “ range anxiety, ” as their
cars can be conveniently recharged in parking spaces at
home or at work, or while the owner is shopping. Electric
power distributed by these charging stations is obtained
from utility grids, some of which, as in Chicago, Florida,
and San Diego, is partly supplied by solar panels.
Math Connection
Calculate the Fuel Costs between two
different vehicle types:
• 2008 Jeep Wrangler:
17 mpg
• 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid: 42 mpg
• Average Miles Driven per year: 15, 000 miles
• Avg. Cost of Gasoline: $3. 50/gallon
How much
money will be spent on gasoline each year for the Jeep and
Civic Hybrid? What is the cost difference and
savings?
Alternative Fuel of the Future: Part One (10
minutes - Generate)
Now its time for a
design challenge. Divide students into teams and challenge
each team to think of a plan to jump-start the new fuel of
the future. Encourage students to think big, think crazy!
Think about ways to use waste materials and to
eliminate air emissions; for instance a car that runs on
scrap drywall or plastic bottles.
Challenge each team to
brainstorm ideas regarding what kind of alternative fuel
they would develop for a transportation infrastructure or
car of the near future. If necessary, assign each team one
alternative fuel and ask them to develop a strategy that
addresses the following concerns:
• Raw
Material - what raw material is being used for this
fuel, where would it come from and how could the extraction
process minimize negative impact on the environment.
• Distribution - how will you get the
fuel to people?
• Infrastructure -
what kind of fueling stations and cars would be needed to
use this fuel
Fuel types to explore may include:
biofuels, hydrogen, electric batteries (EV), fuel cells.
Alternative Fuel of the Future: Part One (20-30 minutes
- Edit and Develop)
Allow each team 20-30
minutes to think about the infrastructure or delivery
system they would design for their fuel. Allow
students to look at maps of the local area.
Encourage them to consider practical issues such as the
distance a car can travel without a gas station for
instance
Each team will design an infrastructure plan
for the fuel and provide some sample maps to illustrate
their plans. Each team should write a short essay to
describe why someone should buy their fuel and how it would
get to their community.
Afterward each team will share
their ideas and maps for the future. (Share and
Evaluate)
Wrap up this lesson with a discussion about
current trends in alternative fuels. What is the likely
future of electric or hybrid cars on the road in the
future? (Finalize) Discuss how your school or students can
get involved. Some ideas include:
•
Riding bikes to school
• Bike Rack
installation
• Car Pooling
•
Walk to School Day