Drawing on inspiration from a futuristic personal transit system being implemented in the United Arab Emirates, four UWindsor Industrial Engineering students came up with a solution to the transportation travails associated with urban sprawl, earning them a second place finish at the Provincial Ontario Engineering Competition and a place at the table for the national competition held recently in Vancouver.
The team of Christina Asuncion, Jesleen Budhiraja, Michael Braidford and Maria Fernanda Marin, took first place at the Windsor Engineering Competition to earn a spot in the provincial consulting competition held in February at the University of Toronto. Twelve teams from across the province were challenged with finding ways to reduce dependency on privately owned vehicles and address transportation issues associated with urban sprawl. Entries were given highest marks for social acceptability, environmental feasibility, and sustainability - while complying with legal regulations.
The Windsor team developed a multi-pronged approach to the challenge that used a GPS tracking system with a pricing gradient for drivers in the greater Toronto area; promoted the use of TTC transportation with accessible parking structures at GO train and subway connection points; as well as the creation of more TTC lines. The group’s final creative solution was to entirely eliminate the use of cars in downtown Toronto and replace them with an energy efficient pod-car system. The idea is based on a transit system currently being proposed for Masdar, a planned city near Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, which will rely entirely on solar and other renewable energy sources.
Following a second place finish at the provincial competition, the UWindsor team joined 150 student engineers from across Canada to participate in the 27th annual Canadian Engineering Competition hosted by the University of British Columbia, where participants combined their classroom knowledge with innovative thinking to solve real-world problems.
“We created a 20-year plan for solid waste handling that would take into consideration a growing population,” says team member Maria Fernanda Marin.
“The competition was definitely a challenge since our problem primarily involved environmental engineering and we are all industrial and manufacturing engineering students,” she says. “So we utilized our knowledge, common sense and our industrial engineering skills to come up with an optimal solution.”
The team decided that an expansion of current landfill sites was not viable, and among other suggestions, opted for waste reduction awareness initiatives and the use of methane emissions from landfill to generate energy.
“We also considered using an upcoming new technology called “the Muncher,” Marin says. “This machine compacts and composts organic and some inorganic materials to produce fertilizer. We also proposed the introduction of a plasma gasification process in the landfill.”
She says that although the Windsor team didn’t take a top spot in the national competition, the students appreciated an opportunity to test their skills among the elite of Canada’s student engineers.
“We knew that coming into such a recognized and high level competition wasn’t going to be easy, but it was definitely worth every second. We were truly content with the job we did and know we gave our best.”