News and Media
Relations contact: Randy Weiler, 615-785-1196 (cell) or Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu / Follow on
Twitter @WeilerRandy
MTSU alternative
fuels expert contact: Dr. Cliff Ricketts, 615-308-7605 (cell) or Cliff.Ricketts@mtsu.edu
Hydrogen from water separated by sun will propel them
to Long Beach
MURFREESBORO, Tenn.
— As a Middle Tennessee State
University alternative fuels researcher, Dr. Cliff Ricketts believes he stands
on the edge of history.
On March 9,
Ricketts and his support team began a five-day, 2,600-mile journey to drive
coast-to-coast — from Tybee Island, Ga., to Long Beach, Calif. — using no gas
purchased at the pump.
After the March
9 first day of the Atlantic-to-Pacific journey (follow on Twitter @WeilerRandy), Ricketts said he has
overcome the first hurdles.
“We had
challenges and we were able to deal with them,” the veteran MTSU professor said
Sunday during a break in the trip. The quest resumes Monday, March 11, as the
team takes Interstate 40 west to Jackson and Memphis before stopping overnight
in the Van Buren and Fort Smith, Ark., area.
Not long after
a 2005 Toyota Prius, the first car being used on March 9, started out from
Tybee Island and Savannah, Ga., Ricketts learned it had a transmission coolant
problem. Until it reached Macon, about three hours away, backup driver Terry
Young of Woodbury, Tenn., had to stop several times, allowing the vehicle to
cool.
For fuel, the Prius
and a 1994 Toyota Tercel use hydrogen from water separated by sun (solar), all
produced on the MTSU campus.
“I’m 99 percent
sure it was not hydrogen-related,” said Ricketts. “That’s our guess. We don’t
know for sure (that it was a transmission coolant problem). Toyota doesn’t
know.”
By the time the
’05 Prius reached Macon, the problem appeared to have corrected itself.
Ricketts added that he will learn the status of another problem around 7 a.m.
Monday. A backup ’07 Prius has been in the shop at a Murfreesboro Toyota
dealership with a mechanical issue. He hopes the car will be ready to travel.
“We’re showing
how America could be energy independent if the need arises,” Ricketts said of
the journey. “We don’t need any foreign oil. … What we achieved last year was
less pollution and less dependent on foreign oil.”
“Hydrogen can
be made from natural gas,” he added. “Our hydrogen comes from water. With
hydrogen, everything’s natural. The solar is all natural and it’s sustaining.”
Tuesday, March
12, the group will drive through Oklahoma City and Amarillo, Texas, before
stopping in Santa Rosa, N.M. They will drive through Flagstaff, Ariz., before
stopping in Kingman, Ariz., on Wednesday, March 13.
The journey, or
“expedition” as Ricketts calls it, is scheduled to end Thursday, March 14, on
the shores of the Pacific Ocean in Long Beach, Calif., one of the states where
gas has exceeded $5 a gallon.
Ricketts’ trip
comes at a time when gas prices rose significantly in February, passing $5 a
gallon for regular in several states. As of March 10, AAA said the national
average was $3.70 for a gallon of regular gas. Prices have been dropping for
about a week.
“If you were to
ask me which is more significant to mankind, putting a man on the moon or
driving coast to coast in five days with the sun and hydrogen from water as the
only fuel sources, I believe the latter is more significant. … This has
environmental implications, economic implications and world peace
implications.”
Senior Arad
Alexander of Houston, Texas, will be part of the travel team. He was in
Ricketts’ alternative fuels class last fall. Alexander’s group’s class project
involved turning a donated old golf cart into a solar electric vehicle. Another
student is expected to join the team Monday.
Besides Young,
a hydrogen expert, and Alexander, other crewmembers include Travis Owen of
Woodbury, Mike Sims of Jackson, Mich., Rick Presley of Orlando, Fla., and Paul
Ricketts of Versailles, Ky., Cliff Ricketts’ youngest son. Owen attended MTSU, and
is a student at the Tennessee Technology Center at Murfreesboro. Several of
Ricketts’ former students, who were involved with his years of research, will
join in March 11-14.
In 2012,
Ricketts and Young combined to drive 1,700 miles using 95 percent ethanol (43
gallons of E95) and 5 percent gas. The remaining 900 miles were driven using
hydrogen from water separated by sun (solar), all produced at MTSU.
On Nov. 1,
2010, Ricketts drove the Tercel, nicknamed “Forces of Nature,” approximately
500 miles from Bristol, Va., to West Memphis, Ark., fueled by solar and
hydrogen from water, all produced on campus.
Ricketts, a
native of Mt. Juliet, Tenn., has spent 37 years in higher education, including
35 in alternative fuels research. He teaches a variety of agriculture classes
for the MTSU School of Agribusiness and Agriscience in the College of Basic and
Applied Sciences.
In 2006,
Ricketts was asked to testify before the 109th U.S. Congress’
Committee on Science and Energy regarding multi-fuel plug-in hybrids.
Brentwood,
Tenn.-based Tractor Supply Company, the MTSU Office of Research and Louisville,
Ky.-based Farm Credit Services of Mid-America are the primary sources of
Ricketts’ 2012-13 funding. TSC contributed $25,000; the research office
provided $12,500.
###
For more
information about Ricketts’ 2013 trip or to interview Dr. Ricketts, please
contact Randy Weiler by calling 615-785-1196 (cell), by email (Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu) or follow the
coast-to-coast journey on Twitter (@WeilerRandy).
MTSU is committed to developing a
community devoted to learning, growth and service. We hold these values dear,
and there’s a simple phrase that conveys them: “I am True Blue.” Learn more at www.mtsu.edu/trueblue.
For MTSU news any time, visit
www.MTSUNews.com.
-------
No comments:
Post a Comment