Over the summer, Education Technology Services (ETS, formerly ACMS) donated a trike (pictured above) to be used at the Sustainability Resource Center.
Educational Technology Services is part of IT Services. They provide a wide array of services to the UC San Diego campus in support of faculty, students, and staff including instructional technology resources like TritonEd, student computing environments, podcasting, and media services. Many ETS employees practice sustainability by using alternative methods of transportation to commute to campus, including public transit and bikes.
The initial hope for the use of the trike was as a test to see if electric cart usage by electronics technicians and computer lab operators could be replaced by human powered vehicles. Unfortunately, the weight of the trike with the large cargo box required very low gearing for the hills, and even with the low gearing, staff had a difficult time getting up those hills, such as from Geisel Library to AP&M. The next step was to add an electric motor to assist with the hills, but that effort never materialized. While not cheap, it would still represent a significant savings over electric carts. Another consideration was the adoption of a wider range of gears to allow for a sufficiently fast pace on flat ground (to match electric cart pace), without requiring electric assist.
Paul Jamason, Supervisor at ETS, says “it would be great to see the trike used to carry items to SRC meetings/events and for general visibility. Perhaps a big SRC logo on the trike!”
The trike will be used at the Sustainability Resource Center for transporting dishware as part of the Student Sustainability Collective‘s Reusable Dishware Program, food recovery efforts and composting.