It was Earth Day today and I got to thinking about something that was suggested to me the other day.  Our department has acquired a ‘hand-me-down’ vehicle for our intra-district travel and somebody asked when we would modify this Chevy Suburban to run on alternative energy.  Interesting suggestion.  I was reading a little bit about fuel cell technoogy tonight and stumbled upon this news release that outlines a 2001 contest among universities to engineer alternative fuel technologies on - get this - Chevy Suburbans.

“Students are given two years to modify a Chevy Suburban into a low-emission, high-efficiency vehicle that does not sacrifice the performance, utility, safety and affordability features that customers want. Students apply cutting-edge technologies such as fuel cells and other advanced propulsion systems, space-age materials and alternative fuels including biodiesel and ethanol to enhance their vehicles.”

Apparently this is an annual competition.  According to this site it was a five year program, the first (00-01) used Suburbans and thereafter Ford began to sposor and Explorers were used.