The Clean Green ERA Linda Wei Queen Mary Elementary Floor Location : J 29 E

Energy is essential to our modern world. The world?s main source of energy is non-renewable fossil fuels. We rely on them to power our cars, which have also become an important part of our lives. Cars make the world around us more accessible, and they provide millions of people with jobs worldwide. However, they produce many serious consequences. Cars use up much of the limited supply of fossil fuel and produce harmful emissions that cause global warming and air pollution. When discarded, cars become a part of the growing waste problem.

As a solution to the current worldwide problems of unsustainable fuel, harmful emissions, and increasing waste, I have developed a concept fuel system for cars called the ERA-FS (Emissions Reuse Automobile - Fuel System). The ERA is powered by methanol made from organic waste. After combustion in the engine, emissions are piped into an algal bioreactor on the roof of the ERA. The micro-algae in the bioreactor absorb the emissions and grow, so portions of the algae must be removed periodically. After dewatering the algae, they solidify into solid algal cakes, which can be made into methanol again, thus reusing the emissions to create a renewable fuel cycle.

Even though the ERA-FS will not solve the entire scope of issues concerning cars, it will resolve many of them. If we continue using the present fuel system, our earth will eventually turn yellow from pollution and global warming, but if the ERA-FS is implemented into daily life, it will be a large step towards the aspired end result of a greener globe for future generations to come.