HOUSTON -- University of Houston engineering majors are on a journey to make a "green" discovery, KPRC Local 2, Your Education Station, reported Friday.

"As time progresses, as we use up all the fossil fuels, it's about time we start looking to the future trying to figure out alternative resources," engineering technology senior Michael Jasch said.

Jasch and his peers have geared up for an ecology challenge by designing a fuel-efficient car using conventional alternative fuels and energy sources.

"With gas prices going up high, this would make the environment and society a lot better," mechanical engineering senior Elizabeth Enu said.

The team spent 1,100 hours working in a machine lab assembling and fine-tuning the parts of their vehicle to prepare for the Shell Eco-Marathon.

The competition features student engineers from North and South America. The team whose vehicle travels the farthest using the least amount of fuel wins a $10,000 check for their school.

"They will gain exposure to the industry by building and procuring particular systems," engineering professor Raresch Pascali said.

Pascali mentored the eco-challenge team during the project. "It's very important for us to look at the next decade as being more efficient," he said.

"Anything I can do to help design some kind of system or mechanical system is a future endeavor and something I want to do," engineering senior Ryan Barfield said.

The 2008 Shell Eco-Marathon Americas is April 10-13 at the California Speedway in Fontana, Calif.