Engineering Entrepreneurship in Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency
The rapid increase in globalization has led to what Thomas Friedman describes as the "flattening of the world". Today's engineer competes within this flattened global economy that reacts at an ever increasing pace of innovations, where entrepreneurs thrive. The entrepreneurial engineer must have the agility to solve problems relying not only a technical background, but also on enhanced communication and leadership skills in order to promote new inventions and ideas. This course is designed to introduce entrepreneurial engineering concepts to students using renewable energy and energy efficiency topics. This course was developed with a grant from the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance.
Students during the course of a semester are encouraged to develop their own businesses around renewable energy and energy efficiency. Following are the videos produced by these teams:
2016 Teams
Rise and Shine developed a product to improve the sleep experience through cooling. The unique pillow cools only the head reducing the need for air conditioning the full bedroom providing some savings through reduced energy needs.
Slap integrated a flexible solar cell and a battery into the popular slap bracelets. This allows users a convenient means to wear their energy.
Sapphire created a custom system to provide hot water to the user through a heating/recirculating system.
Sol Ad used existing e-ink technology to produce a sidewalk advertisement system. The product also featured an online tool to encourage collaboration.
2015 Teams
VLAD. Variable Linked Air Damper (VLAD) is a product sold to home owners with at least a 2000 square foot home living in a region with yearly temperature swings (0 F to 100 F). The owner will have the capability to section the house into occupied versus unoccupied areas improving the comfort and efficiency in your home by seamlessly balancing heating and cooling through the seasons.
Flex Charge. The Flex Charge is the next generation of wireless charging surfaces. It is a thin, flexible wireless charging surface which utilizes a unique magnetic induction coil design to charge multiple smart phones and tablets simultaneously in any orientation. It is designed to ingrate into the daily life of the consumer by being utilized in various areas of the house hold and vehicles where consumers naturally spend the most time.
DEvGEn. DEvGEn is a tool designed to change the way that athletes, trainers, and everyday gym users lift weights. For many machines found in gyms, such as treadmills, ellipticals, and stationary bikes, there are tools included for monitoring ones workout. DEvGEn brings those opportunities to the world of weight lifting.
HPaC. For locations where patrons spend a lot of idle time and settle in such as coffee shops and restaurants, this can create an uncomfortable environment. The Human Powered Air Curtain, HPAC, product will provide a solution to small business owners with retail locations that have trouble maintaining indoor climate control due to foot traffic.
2014 Teams
ARISE Concrete. This is an innovative concrete solution for an inexpensive, safer, simpler, lightweight insulating brick using local resources. The team is developing a novel concrete that can be made with local resources in developing nations that offers an inexpensive and simple structure for developing economies
Blue Grass Solar Mapping. Tool and service for accurate site analysis of solar energy installations. The team is developing a tool for the solar installation market that can run an analysis of a potential solar energy installation site, increasing accuracy of the design and estimations as well as preparation for install thus lowering costs.
Plug Thugs. Reimagine the outlet for simple integration into the evolving internet of things. The team is developing the next generation of outlets bringing the most mundane household hardware into the internet of things.