Past Student Competitions
The University of Texas at Austin has participated in several
major solar/renewable energy related activities. Past student participation in
competitions include:
Solar Car Races:
In 1990 the University of Texas at Austin's
solar powered automobile, "Texas Native Sun," competed in the first major
solar car race in the United States, the GM Sunrayce USA, a sixteen hundred
mile race from Florida to Michigan. The following year "Texas Native Sun"
finished in second place in the California Clean Air Race (CalCAR), a seven hundred
mile route from Sacramento, California to Los Angeles. The University also
participated in the eleven hundred mile Sunrayce '93 from Dallas, Texas to
Minneapolis, Minnesota. Students continue to be involved in designing a new
solar vehicle.
Other Renewable Energy Competitions:
University of Texas at Austin students participated in two other national
competitions: Student Competition on Relevant Engineering/ Energy
Resource Alternatives I (1974-1975), and
Student Competition on Relevant Engineering/ Energy Resource Alternatives II
(1977). The '74-'75 project was a
solar powered absorption air conditioning system which received the " system
output" award. The 1977 project was a solar powered electric generation
system, including an array of concentrating track collectors, which received
the " innovation" award.