Final Reflection

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CommunityDevelopmentGrantProposal.docx

Community Development Grant Proposal

Applicant Names: Charles H Stephens, Jake Goodwin, Noah Denker, Lam Ho Yung, Rosel alsadah, Emily Thomas, Felix Brucker

Community Partner: Corvallis Transit System

Start Date: 02/25/2020

End Date: 02/25/2021

Total Requested: $20,000

Project Summary:

Our group is looking to reduce the carbon emissions of public transport in the city of Corvallis by converting existing buses to electric drive systems. The funding will be used to convert a single test bus using Long lasting Nickel Iron chemistry batteries. This converted bus will be used as a test platform to offer more data for a informed future decision on later conversions/upgrades to the Corvallis bus system. The goal would be that this trial bus is a success and that the City of Corvallis would take note and would like to collaborate in funding. This would entail asking for further funding or fundraising with the community to raise funds for a full fleet of these buses. Along with the buses, we would get the community excited and supportive on our project by postering up an ad campaign, having a social media ad presence, and fundraising from the community via events or an online kickstarter link. This would be just a couple of many options that would be considered in support for this team effort, our main goal is to get the conversion process going as soon as possible while remaining as productive and efficient as possible.

Corvallis Sustainability Coalition Action Plan Goal:

Choose one goal from the Corvallis Sustainability Coalition Action Plan and explain how

Your proposed project will work toward achieving this goal in the Corvallis community.

(200-300 words)

The goal from the Corvallis Sustainability Coalition: Transportation Action team that our proposal best fits is their main goal 2, which reads: “By 2040, community members will reduce per-capita gasoline consumption to 90 gallons annually, 50% below 2008 levels.” We hope to bring CSC closer to this goal with our proposal, which is for a pilot program to switch the Corvallis buses from biodiesel to electric.This would decrease the amount of CO2 emissions from the buses, which run multiple bus routes most of the day, with some night routes. Electric, or even partially electric, would cut the emissions from the buses by at least 50%, if not close to 100%. As of 2008, we were using 180 gallons per capita of fuel, so if we can offset that by over 50% for a larger portion of the Corvallis population, we will be well on our way of decreasing that to 90 gallons per capita by 2040, which is a major improvement and one of our goals. This pilot proposal would be for a single bus as a prototype. By only converting a single bus initially, this allows us to ensure a successful implementation before investing in converting the entire fleet. It also lets us collect data to ensure we get the maximum emission reduction, and thus bringing us closer to our goal of less than 90 gallons per capita annually.

Community Partner Description:

The C.T.S.(Corvallis Transit System) aims to offer transportation to the population of Corvallis in an environmentally-friendly, inexpensive way. This organization has already taken steps towards reducing dependency on fossil fuels with the introduction of biodiesel usage in the current busses. We hope to further pursue this goal with the phasing out of I.C.E.(internal combustion engines) from use and replacing them with a long lasting Nickel Iron chemistry battery system. This would cut down the gas usage entirely while cutting down heavily on carbon emissions in Corvallis. Not only would this improve the buses, but we hope that this will inspire other forms of public transit and general transportation in Corvallis to become more efficient and safe for the environment. We think collaborating with them rather than competing is the most productive approach to this project since we’re trying to better our community and better the systems we currently have. They house a large fleet of transit busses outside of the busses on shift, so it would not be difficult to take advantage of their resources to pull one aside and experiment. This would help inspire Beaver Busses, Dial-a-bus, and the shuttles that circulate through Corvallis to follow in our lead and convert their fleets for a greener transit system.

Project Goals:

We will decrease Corvallis’s gasoline consumption and gas emissions so that by 2040, per capita gas consumption will be down to 90 gallons annually.

-Taking the Corvallis transit system and converting their gas engines into Long lasting Nickel Iron chemistry batteries so that there will be zero gas consumption.

Secondly, we will fundraise a minimum of $500,000 to start converting multiple buses after our initial prototype.

-We will do this via our advertisement campaign, and general community engagement while reaching out to local businesses and entrepreneurs.

Third, once we have a solid backbone to renovate a couple buses, we will have an endorsement with a bus company to produce our buses for us.

-This will inspire other communities to take the same initiative and produce zero-gas buses as well.

Dimensions of Sustainability:

This project is primarily environmental in focus, but will benefit social and economic dimensions of sustainability through this focus. Converting the buses will have the immediate impact of helping reduce direct fossil fuel use. This is both due to a reduction in emissions, the elimination of diesel usage, and the increased attractiveness for public transportation it will provide. Culturally, more sustainable buses will create a sense of progress and accomplishment, which will be much more local and concentrated in its affect than the direct environmental impact. This is important in connecting the project to the local Corvallis community generally. It would provide both a moral boost for existing users and also potentially attract more. More use of public transportation is also good for local ecological communities. Less traffic and road emphasis helps lessen habitat fragmentation, air pollution, light pollution, and noise pollution. Roadkill is the most obvious effect of habitat fragmentation in a day-to-day manner, but the reduction of fragmentation and pollutants is ultimately essential to preserving biodiversity and keeping ecosystem services intact. On a worldwide scale, the reduction of CO2 also of course helps ecosystems around the world on land as well as it does on sea (considering ocean acidification).

Project Evaluation:

This project will impact the Corvallis community and public transportation by reducing the carbon footprint. This will be accomplished by turning to more sustainable electric buses instead of carbon buses. Moreover, the impact will be measured by taking the current footprint of the public transportation in Corvallis and its effect on the environment, and compare it to the footprint and the environmental effect a year after the project gets implemented which is the qualitative data. In addition, we will be measuring the quantitative data by looking into whether the change has motivated the people in the city of Corvallis to use the electric bus and public transportation by measuring the number of people who used buses before and after the change. The results will be shared in the group poster and by working with our community partner to announce the results and the difference that has been done when we use an environmentally friendly bus, to motivate more people to use electric buses by knowing the difference that they have made on the environment.

Project Description and Timeline:

Upon the start of our group’s specific Corvallis sustainability study (via SUS 350) we would take our class knowledge and community volunteering experience to use the proper language and etiquette to solve our specific sustainability issue. With fixating on the buses of Corvallis, our system would start by reaching out and finding a local automotive maintenance company to help us begin converting a prototype bus that would be more efficient and safer for the environment. As the conversion process begins, that’s when we’d work on fundraising with an ad campaign to get the Corvallis community to donate and help our cause for a future eco-friendly bus system. We’d work on social media, banners and posters, and digital ads via local graphic designers and marketing teams to help out via volunteering or collaboration. Once the first bus prototype is ready to hit the streets, we would start showing it to City Hall, the State of Oregon, entrepreneurs, and bigger corporations to inspire funding and assistance to get a full fleet in production. The combined efforts of fundraised money from the community and support from outside help, this would fund the final production and implementation of said final fleet. For this proposal’s sake, our timeline ends at the prototype’s finish, because that’s when our $20,000 cap would reach. Our goal is that by then, we’d have a backbone of fundraised support to keep moving forward without delay.

Jan: Group equips further knowledge on sustainability issues within Corvallis to narrow down our project focus.

Feb: Start planning and volunteering within the community to learn more about our project’s urgency while finishing project proposal.

March: Bring in local eco-friendly automotive maintenance company.

April: Start development on bus prototype

April: Start fundraising campaign

May: Join with local designers/marketers to make social media/poster/ads for supporting the project

August: Finalizing Bus prototype

August: Begin showing progress/sponsorship for further production to automotive companies, entrepreneurs, etc.

Collaboration:

Due to the Corvallis Transportation Action Team report by CTS, there are 16 fixed-routes in Corvallis. At present, based on the limitations of funds and technology, under the constant discussion of our group, we found that "Scania.Co" (North America) has designed green power for petrol buses and launched petrol and electric buses (Euro 6). Scania they contributed with the bus companies and government internationally. They aim an innovative bi-articulated bus that will be of growing interest to cities around the world as they now address urban pollution and lessening their carbon footprint. We indeed decided to reach the manufacturers ahead to discuss with CTS the existing Corvallis bus and choose one of the routes was handed over to the manufacturers to change from fuel engines to electric engines. Including testing whether it is directly proportional to eco-friendly commercial. However, after the remodeled electricity can be provided to Scania.Co for commercial advertising purposes as build up a college town.

( https://www.scania.com/global/en/home/experience-scania/features/scania-unveils-first-bi-articulated-euro-6-gas-bus.html )

Project Background:

Project 1:

The Netherlands replaced their diesel buses with electric buses that can drive 300 km within a single charge and can carry up to 90 people. They did this to improve their air quality, and it has been very successful since they replaced 11 buses in september 2017, and have ordered 55 more to deliver a full range of electric buses around the city. For our project we have taken their success story of replacing their buses to electric with 300km except for one charge which is that our project and aim is to come out with the most sustainable buses for Corvalis.

( https://www.ebusco.com/10-new-electric-busses-for-utrecht-the-netherlands/ )

Project 2:

In China they have not only turned their busses into electric buses, they also thought about how they will charge it and the power grid impact on the city, since it’s a large amount of electricity that is going to be needed for more than one bus at time. For that they have implemented a technology model and algorithm that will help the charging stations lower the electrical output that is coming out at a one time. However, there is still more work that is needed to better the technology used. Moreover, we also have taken their success story of implementing the electric buses where there’s an estimate of 5 million more busses will be used in 2020. In addition, it gave us the idea of thinking about charging stations, but since there's a low number of electric busses currently, there isn’t any huge impact on the stations, but in the long run their work would be helpful to learn form to help the people we are trying to help.

( https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335478607_Charging_Network_Planning_for_Electric_Bus_Cities_A_Case_Study_of_Shenzhen_China )

Project 3:

In Utrecht they are also implementing electric buses and working on improving their bus system by 2028. Where they are looking into larger busses that can hold more people. Which is what we were aiming for, for the bus to carry enough people without making it too crowded. For that their work will help us learn and improve our goal.

( https://irissmartcities.eu/content/55-new-electric-busses-utrecht )

Lasting Impact & Maintenance Plan:

Long term benefits of the project could continue indefinitely. Unlike conventional Li-Ion batteries which have a cycle life of around 2000 cycles the nickel Iron cells we purpose to use have been known to continue working for over 80 years of service and some from their original invention by Edison are still usable to this day. The electric drive system is also very robust requiring minimal maintenance for brushless motors. The disposal of the materials when needed also doesn’t pose an issue due to no heavy metals or highly toxic chemicals being needed for the batteries unlike Li-ion, or conventional sealed lead acid batteries.

Value for Team:

Each group member writes one individual paragraph (100 - 150 words per person) see outline for further instruction.

Emily Thomas:

From this project, I hope to learn more about what it takes to convert to an electric bus. This is a long term goal overall, especially to see the benefits, so it will help me with my patience problem. Learning anything new is always fun for me, but learning how to be more conscientious of ways to be more sustainable both in my personal life and in a company or professional setting. Not only will this help me personally learn more, but academically it is helpful to be able to convey ideas and strategies to people from all backgrounds and experience levels.

Jake Goodwin: I can consult on the technical aspects of the project offering insight into the workings and maintenance of electrical vehicles and battery systems. I can also analyze data logged and collected during the duration of the project, using the R programing language to offer statistical information on the newly implemented systems effectiveness.

Charles Stephens:

I hope to gain experience in creating and working on a community service project that actually benefits people. I hope to learn what it really takes to run and lobby for a proposal. I hope that I can enhance my presentation and communication skills through this project. I have never been good at presenting and communication and hope that by working on this project, helping and talking to people as well as presenting will help me improve these skills to a level where I can implement them in my life moving forward. This project will also help me expand my knowledge on ways to live more sustainability.

Lam Ho Yung:

Mostly a major in an international affair of political science, I felt I am inpatient of listening to people's thoughts. I continuously manage the time allocation for my groupmates to achieve a short amount of time and maximum benefits so that everyone in a group can use the shortest time to deliver half the cost and save everyone time.

Noah Denker:

I work best with groups and connecting with my team members, so keeping everyone motivated and stoked on the project is something I find myself good at. Finding out what everyone would rather do, feel comfortable working on, or just general hlp to make sure the project is running smoothly is something I prioritize and do my best to check in with. Besides soft skills, I come from an artistic/design background, so thinking about the concept, abstractions, and processes of a project in its uniqueness or most wholesome is something I work on for design projects and general volunteering, systematic work.

Rosel alsadah:

I hope to learn more about how this project has impacted the city of corvallis when it comes to their air quality and carbon footprint, and just by looking into other projects that have been done, i believe that this will give me the push that i need to work on future sustainable projects. Moreover, this project helped me when it comes to working skills like cooperation and leadership and working with a group is a great way to learn about working with other people to achieve the best outcome. Moreover, i believe that this experience has given me a lot of knowledge that can be helpful in the future if i decided to go into the transportation side of civil engineering.

Felix Brucker:

Transferring to more sustainable systems is something many people need to gain experience in. It is very necessary for the world, but complex tasks like this also require experience, which projects like this can provide. It is a matter of learning from mistakes and becoming stronger for them, rather than seeing them as an obstacle. I also am learning more about the communities that surround me and connected local power structures that facilitate change. This project is additionally a group effort, which provides what I think is one of the most important aspects of experience - learning to work with people effectively and productively. I mean productive in the efficiency sense, but also in the sense that we can together produce things that affect our lives after this particular project is said and done.

Qualifications and Experience:

Each group member should write one individual paragraph. Your resume and

qualifications and experience section should align. Make sure information you

emphasize in one is reinforced in the other.

Please describe why you are interested in creating this project, and why you believe

you’re qualified to carry out this project. Include any relevant experience you have

(volunteer work, employment, courses, etc.). Include a description of the change agent

skills that you contribute to your team.

(100-150 words per person)

Jake Goodwin:

I have experience working in the renewable energy sector on wind turbines as well as my work on personal projects involving electric vehicles utilizing battery management systems and brushless direct current motors along with their controller software. I have also earned an AAS in renewable energy technology and taken SUS350 at Oregon State University.

Charles Stephens:

I have gained knowledge from taking SUS 350 and ATS 341 that has made me more aware and think more deeply about climate change and how to live more sustainability. I am also proficient in Microsoft Word, Microsoft Powerpoint, and Microsoft Excel. I also have experience in customer relations and customer service and have good organization skills. All together I can use these skills to assist my teammates in all facets of these projects. As well as help communicate with Community partners. I can also help organize and format our projects to make sure they are clear, concise, and well formatted.

Lam Ho Yung:

In the previous term, I have gained knowledge of climate change in political thought, which is a huge social topic in the world, and every country should start to place attention on that. Perhaps, ideas of environmental politics, those about the different nations or state how they keep their homeland to be sustainable. Due to that, I had felt sustainability is the thing that could help earn a profit or waste a massive amount of cost. Put back in this project, and this would be a real experiment to show that to build a sustainable environment, which costs a lot of the price before you see the result.

Noah Denker:

As a graphic designer, my skillset falls in line with all of my random interests and I love working on diverse projects with groups of diverse people. I have been wanting to use this for wholesome causes (such as sustainability efforts) and I believe I have the background knowledge to effectively do this. My BIO 101 class prepared me for the sciences and was a great gateway to taking SUS 103 and into SUS 350. Along with the basis material, I have been working in my GD 325 Collaborative class to work on sustainability based projects to improve waste processes on campus. With this in mind, I find that my approach to this project is unique to the group and a great asset to help with processes, design, and development.

Rosel alsadah:

As a civil engineer major I fall into the category of transportation which is one of my interests, and my number one goal is to be sustainable which means I look forward to having all sustainable cars that will better our environment. Moreover, before I signed up for the SUS350 I have taken introduction to civil engineering where we had a lecture about transportation engineering. I have also taken a writing engineering class where I presented a susceptible concrete that heals itself using water and becatira which means less repairs and more sustainable. In addition, with this gained knowledge from the courses and research I believe I'm qualified to take on this project and give ideas and expertise.

Emily Thomas:

As a member of the Corvallis community, I always enjoy seeing new ways to create more sustainability for residents. I not only have a personal investment, but a professional one as well. With my background in both geology and physics, I understand just how dire the situation is with climate change. The switch to electric buses can help mitigate that significantly. My qualifications I bring include employment assisting on electronics in the aviation industry, a healthy amount of working with people in a service role, and several years in creating new systems which were used to help streamline and perfect processes.

Felix Brucker:

As a computer science major I am fascinated in complex systems, taking unknowably complex things and poking around for half-decent leverage points. It’s not made of code but transportation and the world that transportation effects absolutely is one of those complex systems. I can use my familiarity with logical systems as a unique vantage point on the issue and how to approach electric busses. With this class, another sustainability class, and a geography class, I have gained significant exposure to sustainable management topics that inform my choices in this project. I also have the tools to express those choices because of various communications classes I have taken, and my artistic experience.

Budget and Budget Justification:

Please provide a line-item budget estimating all costs for the project (including in-kind

donations and items funded through other sources). Please include information about

where your purchases are being sourced and the sustainability of the materials.

Preference will be given to budgets that reflect consideration of the ethical, material, and

economic sustainability of proposed expenses. Consider borrowing, renting, or sourcing

donated materials. Follow the example below

Expense

Unit

Price

# of

Units

Total

Price

Funding

Source/ Donation

Vendor

Sustainability

Factors

Considered

Fundraising Campaign

“varies”

“varies”

$1,000

Front the cost

US

It's a community project that the community helps support.

Advertising Campaign

“Varies

“Varies”

$2,000

Fundraising Fund

Youtube,Bus Ads,

To help get are message out there

Bus Conversion

1

1

$8,000

Fundraising Fund

Corvallis Transit System

Uses environmentally safe elements in high cycle life cells and does not release CO2 emissions over its life

Charging Infrastructure

1

1

$8,000

Fundraising Fund

Corvallis Transit System

The material production uses harmful materials but worth the cost to cut back emissions.

Resumes:

See resumes under this assignment folder.

Systems Map (image and Narrative)

When looking at the systems around electric busses, we can separate them into two main camps. There are systems involving the creation of these busses. These systems are mostly economic (funding & taxation), though there are strong ties to environmental systems (construction supplies both effect and depend on natural ecologies through potentially damaging extraction processes and the health of ecosystem services) and even stronger ties to social systems (various levels of government) if you trace things back far enough. Then there are the systems involving the impact of the busses. These are largely environmental (both local ecosystems and global climate change), though these environmental impacts are important largely for their social (quality of life) and economic (ecosystem services) impacts. Both of these groups are connected by people. People are distinctly both part of the creation and the affected, when it comes to these busses. Their part in this system closes a loop, in which people (the Our Team node) put in motion legislation which pays money to help transportation which helps people (the Better Quality of Life node). When we look at the materials and electricity used to make the busses we are also ultimately reliant on environmental aspects (ecosystem services) for them, which are affected positively by green transportation being successful.

Supplemental Materials:

In the future we will be aiming for more sustainable buses like using buses with hydrogen fuel. In London they had a great success with hydrogen powered transit to reduce 60% of their carbon emission by 2025. They started in 2011 with only 6 buses, and more busses are being turned to hydrogen to improve their quality of air and to get to their goal by 2025. In addition, their way of reducing carbon emission is more effective but expensive for our project budget for that a sustainable electric bus is more effective. However, in the long run we would like to switch to Hydrogen fuel to reduce the footprint even more. The hydrogen method will also save time when it comes to filling the fuel since it is used just like a gas station, where on the other hand electric busses will take time to charge, for that it is more efficient to use hydrogen, and we're hopeful that in the long run there will be no carbon buses that affect the environment.

( https://www.ballard.com/docs/default-source/motive-modules-documents/tfl-case-study-dec-2017.pdf?sfvrsn=2&sfvrsn=2 )

Scania unveils first bi-articulated Euro 6 gas bus. (n.d.). Retrieved February 21, 2020, from https://www.scania.com/global/en/home/experience-scania/features/scania-unveils-first-bi-articulated-euro-6-gas-bus.html