With 2.6 million snowmobiles registered worldwide and an annual economic impact of 27 billion dollars in North America alone, snowmobiling is arguably the most popular winter activity in the world. [1] However, the snowmobiling community has been under increasing scrutiny for being loud and polluting the environment.  This was first seen in the news in 1997 when snowmobiles were banned from Yellowstone National Park, eliminating half of the parks potential 140,000 winter visitors. [2]  As a result, Wyoming’s Teton County Commissioner Bill Paddleford and Environmental Engineer Dr. Lori Fussell worked with the snowmobile industry, Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and universities to create the SAE International Clean Snowmobile Challenge (CSC) in 1998 with its first competition being held in 2000 [2].

The challenge was designed to be an engineering design competition for college and university students to create a clean and quite snowmobile that was able to keep the attention of snowmobile enthusiast.  Students are to use original equipment manufacturer (OEM) snowmobiles and redesign them to reduce unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide, and noise emissions while maintaining a consumer acceptable level of performance [3].  The competition was held at both Yellowstone National Park and Jackson Hole before being moved to Keweenaw Research Center (KRC) of Michigan Technological University in Houghton, MI in 2003 [4].   In 2006, the competition introduced the zero emissions category in addition to the existing internal combustion (IC) engine category [5].  

The goal of the IC engine category is to design a touring snowmobile that can be used in environmentally sensitive areas such as National Parks and other pristine areas [4].  This requires creating a cost effective solution that reduces noise and exhaust emissions while maintaining a comfortable ride.  New in 2008 is the requirement that all IC snowmobiles must run on either E-85, a blend of 15 percent gasoline and 85 percent ethanol, or B-10 bio-diesel fuel.  The IC category is already looking toward the future requiring sleds to be flex-fuel compatible in 2009.  This will force spark ignited engines to run on a range of fuel from E-10 to E-85, and diesel powered engines will need to accept B-0 to B-20 bio-diesel fuel [4].  

SAE introduced the zero emissions category with the help of the National Science Foundation (NSF) in response to a request by VECO Polar Resources in Greenland [5].  VECO is currently doing research at Summit Station in the Greenland Ice Cap.  The ice cap is very sensitive and absorbs any emissions that result from a fossil fuel burning engine.  Thus, VECO’s only current mode of transportation is dog sleds to eliminate skewed data [5].  SAE and NSF hope that the zero emissions category will result in a vehicle that meets the range, reliability, and safety requirements of research missions at Summit Station.