Nevada school wins IEEE-USA-sponsored Best Essay award at National Future City Competition

Nevada Christian Home School (NCHS) of Sparks, Nev., won the Best Essay award at the National Finals of the National Engineers Week Future City Competition on 21 February. The honor was one of 29 special awards.

IEEE-USA sponsored the essay competition, which featured the 35 Future City regional-winning teams that advanced to the finals at the Hyatt Regency Hotel-Capitol Hill.

NCHS' team included eighth-graders Cameron Etchart, Ethan Foster and Ari Henry; teacher sponsor Tracy Henry; and engineer mentor Pete Etchart. IEEE-USA President John Meredith presented a plaque to each member. See a photo at http://www.ieeeusa.org/communications/eweek/files/Nevada.jpg.

Teams competing at the Future City finals had to write an essay as part of the overall judging. This year's topic: "Develop an energy plan to include fuel cell systems to power a city of the future."

NCHS' city, "ALTA," short for "Alpine Living Tahoe Adventure," is set in the year 2062. Geothermal power and fuel cells are used throughout the city. Fuel cells were chosen "because of their high reliability and zero greenhouse gas emissions." Electricity is produced by a 30-megawatt geothermal power plant. Hydrogen sulfide is recovered from the geothermal gas vents and converted into hydrogen, ALTA's principal source of energy.

The hydrogen, which is conveyed through "fiber-reinforced polymer pipelines," is extracted by adding water to the small- and large-scale generators. ALTA homes are equipped with small fueling stations for the citizen's hydrogen vehicles. The most abundant element in the universe, hydrogen also powers residential appliances, and heats and cools homes.

To read NCHS' winning essay, go to http://www.ieeeusa.org/communications/eweek/files/2007-Essay.pdf.

NCHS, which won the Northern Nevada regional last month, finished second overall to St. Thomas More School of Baton Rouge, La.

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The Future City Competition, which was conceived in IEEE-USA offices in 1992, is designed to encourage the future generation of engineers. Seventh and eighth grade students create their own vision of a city of tomorrow, working first on computer and then constructing three-dimensional scale models. More than 1,100 schools and 30,000 students competed this past year across the United States. International pilot programs are underway in Egypt, India, Japan and Sweden.

Visit www.futurecity.org or www.eweek.org for more information.

IEEE-USA advances the public good and promotes the careers and public policy interests of more than 220,000 engineers, scientists and allied professionals who are U.S. members of the IEEE. IEEE-USA is part of the IEEE, the world's largest technical professional society with 360,000 members in 150 countries. See http://www.ieeeusa.org.