**Georgia Tech Students Ride the Waves on Paper Sailboard, Win Energy
Challenge**

***Flowery Branch, Ga., Lake Lanier \-- Windsurfing on a sailboard made
out of paper, a team of chemical engineering students from the Georgia
Institute of Technology raced away with \$15,000 at Energy Challenge
\'02 Saturday***

Georgia Tech placed first among seven university teams at the national,
college-level event held at Lake Lanier\'s Van Pugh Park in Flowery
Branch, Georgia. The race was the final test for the sailboards that
were crafted by the teams during the past eight months. It accounted for
20 percent of the total points needed to win Energy Challenge 2002.

Overall scoring for the event was based on best paper sailboard
performance during a timed race, written reports, gross weight, material
composition, tensile energy absorption, stiffness and novelty of design.

Miami University (Ohio) took second and \$10,000 and the University of
Maine finished third and collected \$5,000.

Georgia Tech\'s champions included Gonzalo Stabile, Philip Timm and
Yianni Ellis. \"Our emphasis was to design a sailboard that was
100-percent recyclable and make it as environmentally sound as we
could,\" said Stabile, who is originally from Argentina. \"We went for
simplicity and tried to minimize the use of energy in production. At
first we thought our sailboard might struggle when we saw what other
teams had done, but we were glad it sailed just fine.\"

Energy Challenge \'02, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy,
Institute of Paper Science and Technology, Hercules, Inc. and WindSense,
allows engineering students to work with energy efficiency and waste
minimization concepts that have real applications in the pulp and paper
industry.

The teams designed the sailboards exclusively from paper products,
including corrugated paperboard or linerboard. Commonly used paper
chemicals were allowed in the finishing and bonding of the board.

Each of the schools received a \$2,000 \"start up\" grant to assist with
the funding of their project. From there, it was up to them to fashion
the sailboard.

The purpose of Energy Challenge \'02 was to encourage innovation,
increase interest in science and engineering and promote awareness of
energy efficiency, manufacturing design, recycling, waste minimization
and pulp and paper industrial processes.

The competition supports DOE\'s Agenda 2020 - a program to enhance the
economic competitiveness of the U.S. forest products industry and to
help the pulp and paper industry reach the vision of more energy
efficient manufacturing processes in the year 2020.

**Editor\'s Note**: Additional information about the contest can be
found on the Energy Challenge Web Site at
http://www.ipst.edu/energy_challenge. Photos and a press release are
available online or can be emailed to media by request at the conclusion
of the event. For any questions about Energy Challenge, contact John

Horst at 303-275-4709.

  ---------------------------------------- ---------------- --------------
  **TEAM**                                 **TOTAL SCORE**  **RACE PLACE**

  Ga. Tech                                 68.14            1

  Miami (Ohio)                             61.74            5

  Maine                                    61.71            7

  NCSU -- Pulp & Paper Science             60.91            3

  University of Central Florida            60.87            4

  NCSU -- Chemical Engineering             59.82            2

  Mississippi State                        28.39            6
  ---------------------------------------- ---------------- --------------

\* Best sailing time - 01:40, NCSU - Pulp and Paper Science

For more information contact:

John Horst, 303-275-4709

email: john_horst@nrel.gov

PRESS MAY CONTACT:

DOE: John Horst, 303-275-4709, john_horst@nrel.gov or

Participating teams

-   North Carolina State University - School of Chemical Engineering;
    School of Paper Science

-   Mississippi State University

-   University of Maine

-   University of Central Florida

-   Miami University (Ohio)

-   Georgia Institute of Technology