The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Institute of Paper Science and Technology (IPST), Hercules Incorporated and Vanguard Sailboats are sponsoring the competition aimed at giving students an opportunity to demonstrate their technical abilities in a "real world" experience.

"The concepts of this competition, such as liquid penetration resistance, structural mechanics and strength of paper products and environmental impact are very real applications in the pulp and paper industry," said Dr. Jim Ferris, president of IPST. "Students will have the opportunity to work with this technology and learn more about it as they build their projects. These are very attractive qualities to employers as the students move forward with their careers."

North Carolina State University, Miami University (Ohio), University of Central Florida, University of Maine and the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (Syracuse, N.Y.) -will take part in the competition. Each school received a $2,000 "start up" grant to assist with the funding of their project that requires the sails to be made out of wood fiber, synthetic polymers and common paper products.

Teams will be supplied with 100 pounds of solid wood chips of the same species, the same age and from the same source. The wood fiber, which will be obtained from an initial wood to fiber reduction stage, must account for 80 percent of the sail's weight.

A review committee will judge the sails on the following: gross weight, material composition, total sail area, tear and tensile strength performance, novelty of design, material engineering considerations and sailboat performance. The first-place winner will receive $15,000; second place, $10,000; third place, $5,000.

In addition to the race, three student representatives and one project faculty advisor of each team will travel to Washington, D.C. Feb. 19-22, 2001 (all expenses paid) to take part in the DOE Biennial Office of Industrial Technologies Fourth Annual Expo. Teams will be required to make a 5-minute presentation about their projects.

The purpose of Energy Challenge 2001 is to increase interest in science and engineering and promote awareness of energy efficiency, manufacturing design, recycling, waste minimization, package maximizing and pulp and paper industrial processes.

The competition correlates with DOE's Agenda 2020 - a program to enhance the economic competitiveness of the U.S. forest products industry and to help the pulp and paper industry reach the vision of more energy efficient manufacturing processes in the year 2020.

"This competition is a long-term strategy we're hoping will get more people involved in conservation," Ferris said. "Energy use seems to be increasing. The importance of introducing energy efficient technologies cannot be understated as we try to protect our national interests and our environment."