Welcome to the Alternative Energy Challenge (AEC) Webpage!

The purpose of the Alternative Energy Challenge (AEC), hosted by the Student Engineering Council (SEC), is to promote awareness and technical problem solving for alternative energy, and to facilitate interdisciplinary teamwork, leadership, and hands-on engineering experiences for students in the Cockrell School of Engineering. Resource management -- particularly energy management -- and climate change currently present global challenges that make alternative energy solutions an important focus in engineering. Teams of students will compete cooperatively by first designing and then by actually building devices that capture energy from the environment in a sustainable/green way. The devices will be installed on or near campus, and the energy captured will be put to useful work. Teams will be judged on a variety of criteria outlined in the rules. Data will be collected for a time period and the devices will be installed on or near campus as a testament to student ingenuity and problem solving.

Goals:

• Raise awareness about energy and climate issues facing the world now and in the future
• Further facilitate the professional education of students in the Cockrell School of Engineering through the promotion of:
  1. Interdisciplinary technical skills
  2. Teamwork and leadership
  3. Project management (deadlines, budgets, design... etc)
  4. Hypothesis testing, basic research skills, and analytical skills
  5. Persuasive communication skills (both written and spoken)
  6. Social responsibility and ethics
  7. Aesthetics
  8. Awareness of safety concerns in engineering design and construction
• Help the CSE to lead the University of Texas at Austin in the field of alternative energy by serving the interest, safety and welfare of the public