Photon III, an ingenious boat prototype propelled by electric and solar energy, is the tangible result of the hard work of some twenty students at the École de technologie supérieure de Montréal. Ingenious indeed, as Photon III was crowned the grand champion after its third attempt at the Solar Splash, a North American calibre competition held in June 2003 at Buffalo, New York. At the same time they won the award for best overall design and best electric design. The ÉTS team, which has just finished creating Photon IV, hopes to be able to improve the prototype’s performance for the sprint races at the 2005 competition. As well as having participated in this competition, the Photon project has also proved to be a golden opportunity for ÉTS’s future engineers to put their skills into practice and increase their knowledge while at the same time promoting solar energy. And speaking of promotion, throughout the year, the team behind the Photon prototype participates in different public events and exhibitions in order to call as much attention as possible to its creation.
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Delirium Environnemental is an initiative by master’s students in environmental sciences at the Université du Québec à Montréal and is best described as a current affairs radio program whose mission is to heighten awareness and inform the population about current environmental issues. This information platform, which is meant to be friendly and full of energy, has been in operation since October 2002 and, as it is broadcast on the Hertzian waves of Montréal’s CIBL (101.5 FM), as well as live on the Internet via the UQAM radio station (CHOQ.FM), enables the Delirium Environnemental team to reach thousands of listeners every week. During the two-hour weekly program, the team behind the microphone offers a critical analysis of current environmental issues and in-depth interviews with environmentalists such as Hubert Reeves, Thomas Mulcair, André Boisclair, Benoît Girouard, the Union paysanne and Greenpeace Canada activists. Delirium Environnemental owes its existence and success to the dedication and passion of its team members, who design and produce this popular environmental program.
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In 2002, with the goal of designing a vehicle with low fuel consumption, a group of students at the École de technologie supérieure de Montréal, after three years of hard work, produced the first generation of the Évolution prototype. Finishing 16th out of 27 at the Supermileage Competition in Michigan in June 2002 with a fuel consumption of 0.588 litres/100 km, the ÉTS team returned the following year and this time achieved a 3rd place standing with a consumption of 0.315 litres/100 km. Proud of these results, the team, which now has new members, has been working on the development of Évolution II for the last year. In their third participation in the annual Michigan competition, the ÉTS representatives won the award for best design and Évolution II finished fourth with a fuel consumption of 0.257 litres/100 km, sinking the performance of Évolution I into oblivion. Last year, the Club Évolution also took part in different fairs and exhibitions and toured cegeps to heighten public awareness of energy control and fuel economy.
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