Sustainable Concrete Canoe
Project Sponsor: Cal American Society of Civil Engineers: Joint Fundraising Committee
TGIF Grant: $2,000
Project Theme: Waste Reduction
Project Description: The Cal Concrete Canoe team seeks to design, create and compete with a concrete canoe that promotes sustainability through the use of more green materials than have been typically used by previous competitors. Through the education of new members and presentation at competition, the team seeks to encourage future teams to develop more sustainable designs for years to come.
Project Goals:
- Design and construct a sustainable concrete canoe, and compete at the regional and national level of the ASCE Concrete Canoe Competition.
- Reduce on-campus waste production by using a wooden mold, with FSC-Certified wood, rather than a Styrofoam mold, as has been used in many of the previous years.
- Reduce the team’s overall carbon footprint and water use by switching from an ordinary portland cement mix design to a geo-polymer mix design. The geo-polymer mix design incorporates recycled fly ash and sodium hydroxide, rather than portland cement and water, as its main components.
- Educate team members on the importance of sustainable design through the team’s DeCal session.