Winners named in Utah's 'Bright Skies' clean air competition

Three winners have been named in the “Bright Skies” Utah Clean Air Innovation Contest, a $45,000 competition organized and hosted by the Utah Clean Air Partnership (UCAIR), Chevon and Zions Bank.

Three winners have been named in the “Bright Skies” Utah Clean Air Innovation Contest, a $45,000 competition organized and hosted by the Utah Clean Air Partnership (UCAIR), Chevon and Zions Bank.

Idle Free Heat earned the grand prize and $22,500. It is a device that drastically extends the time a vehicle’s heating system can provide heat inside the cab without the engine on, thus reducing the need to idle the engine in order to keep the air warm while waiting inside the vehicle.

“We’re really excited to win this contest,” said Joel Ewell of Idle Free Heat. “We’ve been working on this idea for a long time and we believe it will make a real difference in our air quality. We know people care about air pollution, but they idle their cars simply to stay warm, which is understandable. This is why we created our device in the first place.”

A $11,250 runner-up prize went to ShareLift, a ridesharing app for skiers and snowboarders to carpool to and from resorts. Built into the app are automatic payment, ranking, pickup locations and other features.

The other runner-up receiving $11,250 was Nikola Motor Co., the first company in the world to engineer and develop a zero-emission, electric power semi-truck.

The contest began three months ago and nearly 40 innovators, entrepreneurs, businesses and nonprofit organizations developed innovations with the potential to immediately improve Utah’s air quality. Eight finalists presented their ideas to judges Nov. 16.

“Although we selected only three winners, this is a win for all of us,” said Ted Wilson of UCAIR. “It’s a win because capable people are picking up the challenge to improve air quality. It’s a win because our younger generation feels their innovations and ideas are welcome. And it’s a win because we are finding new and innovative solutions for improving air quality. That’s what this ‘Bright Skies’ contest was all about: a win for us all.”

The other five finalists were:

• Echelon Engine, a new combustible engine with a modified crankshaft that ignites when the connecting rod is past top-dead-center, thus leading to higher efficiency requiring less fuel to get the same power, and reducing heat and harmful emissions.

• Mobilight Hybrid Light Tower, a mobile lighting tower that integrates a combustion engine with the latest solar, LED and battery technology. Compared to straight diesel generator lighting towers, it reduces emissions and fuel consumption by 83 percent.

• GasPro, a filtration system that filters hydrogen sulfide and siloxane contaminants from byproduct bio-methane gas at county sewage plants. When the gas is then burned, less PM2.5 particulates (those with diameters less than 2.5 micrometers) are spread into the air, which may improve air quality by 5 percent along the Wasatch Front.

• Ecotrike16, a solar electric vehicle that uses so little power that a single roof panel provides enough power for urban travel.

• Cold Start Emissions Eradicator, a device that captures the emissions from catalytic convertors on cold vehicles and stores the emissions until the convertor is hot enough to safely burn them, thus significantly reducing the emissions caused by cold engine starts.

The contest’s cash prizes were provided by Chevron, with Zions Bank sponsoring the contest operations. Additional support was provided by the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah.

“The innovations we saw today were exactly what we were looking for,” said Mikal Byrd, policy, government and public affairs representative at Chevron’s Salt Lake refinery. “They were innovative solutions that can make a real difference in Utah’s air quality. Chevron is thrilled to support them in bringing their innovations to fruition.”

The contest organizers and sponsors plan to host additional clean-air contests next year.