NORWICH – Students in the DCMO BOCES Career and Technical Education Programs are exploring the use of alternative energy resources in a project that will convert the Campus Security patrol car into a bi-fuel vehicle.
For several weeks, students in Harold Stevens’ Security and Law class and Jim Foster’s Auto Tech class have been earning science credits by studying alternative energy resources in Erin Engle-Thomas’s science class and brainstorming ideas to apply this knowledge to their field of interest. Together, teachers came up with an idea to modify the Campus Security car to run on both gasoline and compressed natural gas in a project that integrated students’ knowledge of alternative energy.
Stevens purchased an $1,100 natural gas conversion kit for the car earlier this year, teaching his class the financial aspects and the pros and cons of the project.
With the kit at hand, students in the auto shop program began work on the vehicle a week ago, mapping ways to install the 15-gallon natural gas tank in the trunk of the car and lead the fuel to the car’s engine. According to Foster, controls inside the car will allow the operator to change from gasoline to natural gas at the flip of a switch.
Beginning the process, there were some obstacles in decoding some of the kit’s instructions, said Foster, but when students ironed out the problems, other challenges have been minimal. The biggest obstacle facing students now, he added, is finding a place for all the extra natural gas gauges in the car’s engine compartment. When all is said and done, Foster estimates the car will get nearly 40 miles per gallon where it would otherwise get only 25-30. Moreover, natural gas will burn cleaner and come cheaper, costing more than $1 less per gallon than gasoline.
“You would think that this kind of technology would have caught on more by now,” said Foster, citing the scarcity of bio-fuel cars on the road. Students taking part in the project are well on their way to working with more alternative energy resources in the future, he added.
Despite the benefits of bi-fuel, both Stevens and Foster agreed there are some drawbacks, including less power, a smaller natural gas tank and the lack of nearby stations to refuel. The closest fueling stations for compressed natural gas are found in more urban areas like Utica, Syracuse and Rochester, Stevens said. But when and if natural gas becomes more available in rural areas too, he believes it could be a way to stimulate the economy, adding that a dollar saved on one gallon of gas is a dollar that can be spent elsewhere.
Knowing some of the basics of alternative energy will be a quality that employers look for in the future, Foster said. Teaching students some of the fundamentals of it now will give them an advantage when they seek a job further down the road.
“We’re trying to make sure that students and other people know that this availability is here,” Stevens said, emphasizing the recent trends in technology and alternative energy. “If we can give them a first glimpse of this technology here, it might fuel the fire that keeps them going with it in the future.”