Energy Efficient Housing - Going Off the Grid
In the energy efficient housing unit, many projects were completed, including a Solar Water Heater, a model house designed for daylighting, Site Selection, Materials Testing, and Building.
1. Solar Water Heater
The goal for the Solar Water Heater portion of the project was to create a water heater without the use of electricity or fossil fuels, using only the energy radiated from the sun.
My group's design was simple, but not as efficient as we had hoped. Our first feature is the copper piping. Because copper is highly conductive (it's very good at transferring energy), it was the ideal material to use to heat the water. The heated pipe heats the running water, which pours into a cup. The second feature of our design was our deep refraction chamber. Lined with foil, the inside of the shoebox served as light refraction, to eventually redirect the light to point at the copper tubing in the center. In addition to the refraction chamber, we had a third feature of a reflector panel, which catches more light and redirects it onto the pipe and into the chamber. Our fourth feature for the heater was insulation. Below the foil of the refraction chamber was crumpled up newspaper to serve as insulation. Our group does not know how effective this was. The fifth, and final, feature of the design is water storage. We store water in a small milk jug (roughly a quart in volume). This jug connects to clear plastic tubing, which fits snugly around the beginning of the copper pipe. We also added clay to create a water-tight seal between the jug and tubing.
My group's design was simple, but not as efficient as we had hoped. Our first feature is the copper piping. Because copper is highly conductive (it's very good at transferring energy), it was the ideal material to use to heat the water. The heated pipe heats the running water, which pours into a cup. The second feature of our design was our deep refraction chamber. Lined with foil, the inside of the shoebox served as light refraction, to eventually redirect the light to point at the copper tubing in the center. In addition to the refraction chamber, we had a third feature of a reflector panel, which catches more light and redirects it onto the pipe and into the chamber. Our fourth feature for the heater was insulation. Below the foil of the refraction chamber was crumpled up newspaper to serve as insulation. Our group does not know how effective this was. The fifth, and final, feature of the design is water storage. We store water in a small milk jug (roughly a quart in volume). This jug connects to clear plastic tubing, which fits snugly around the beginning of the copper pipe. We also added clay to create a water-tight seal between the jug and tubing.
In the end, this design raised the water's temperature by 6 degrees, which is not very efficient.
2. Daylighting
Daylighting is a simple concept: creating homes that only require light bulbs at night time, significantly decreasing the amount of electricity used. There are a few main ways to daylight a house. First, you can use Clerestory windows. These are short, but long, windows high off of the ground that serve only for light exposure, and are not practical for looking outside. The second method goes hand-in-hand with the clerestory windows: light shelves. Light shelves redirect downward pointing light into a window - like a clerestory - to help light the room. The third method is skylights. Skylights open directly to the sky, so they cause a lack of insulation, but they let in a lot of light. Solar Tubes, on the other hand, gather light from all directions and send it down a tube and diffuse it, creating less intense color and losing as little insulation as possible. My group created a 1000 sqft 1/10 scale model house demonstrating these daylighting techniques.
3. Site Selection
For the next part of our project, all groups were required to select 3 different areas where a solar-efficient house could be placed. My group chose near the basketball courts for its light exposure, on a hill for its views and secluded-ness, and near the baseball fields for its light and area. In the end, the best choice would have been the baseball field because it wouldn't be frequented as much as the football field/ basketball area, and yet it still gets quite a lot of sun.
4. Materials Testing
For the materials testing lab, we took a large list of materials and tested them for conductivity, insulation, and reflectivity. My group, in junction with another, tested some of the insulative materials, including reflective bubble wrap, rigid foam, and even jeans, but more as well. Other groups tested materials such as OSB, metal, fabric, and more. In the end, the lab was inconclusive because of all of the errors, including but not limited to: human error, temperature error (constant warming of the room), and more.
5. Building
Building was the largest project of them all. For this portion, each group was required to design a Cold Frame and something to benefit the Northern Window of the current solar studio.
A cold frame is essentially a mini-greenhouse, collecting light to heat up plants in the winter, so that gardening can happen during that portion of the year.
Our North Window Design was a reflector duct system, intended to collect light from outside the solar studio, then wrap around and deposit the light in the room. The problems with this design are the following: price, aesthetics, and lack of view out of that window. Other than that, the idea was a great concept.
All other info on this portion is viewable in our presentation piece:
A cold frame is essentially a mini-greenhouse, collecting light to heat up plants in the winter, so that gardening can happen during that portion of the year.
Our North Window Design was a reflector duct system, intended to collect light from outside the solar studio, then wrap around and deposit the light in the room. The problems with this design are the following: price, aesthetics, and lack of view out of that window. Other than that, the idea was a great concept.
All other info on this portion is viewable in our presentation piece:
Reflection:
All in all, this was a fun project to work on. My two problems were length and variety. I feel that the project was lengthy, which made it harder to focus on. This also limited the other projects that we could work on. As a side effect of the length, I feel like the project didn't leave everyone with much variety. Yes, there were different portions, but the length and lack of previous variety made them seem like less. I would have liked it if we had more time to pursue the other subjects as well. In addition, I found working with Nick difficult. Either he was distracted with music or he was actually working (albeit slowly). Despite these issues, I found that the greatest parts of the project were length and (less) direction. Although I have already presented the length as an issue, I see it as beneficial as well. It is necessary for a program that prepares us for the real world to show us what the real world is like: I lot of lengthy projects. I liked the direction as well, especially toward the design part, where we got to think of who-knows-what to design a cold frame and a complement to the north window. In the end, I really did like this project, and it would be interesting to do a similar one with another topic.
All in all, this was a fun project to work on. My two problems were length and variety. I feel that the project was lengthy, which made it harder to focus on. This also limited the other projects that we could work on. As a side effect of the length, I feel like the project didn't leave everyone with much variety. Yes, there were different portions, but the length and lack of previous variety made them seem like less. I would have liked it if we had more time to pursue the other subjects as well. In addition, I found working with Nick difficult. Either he was distracted with music or he was actually working (albeit slowly). Despite these issues, I found that the greatest parts of the project were length and (less) direction. Although I have already presented the length as an issue, I see it as beneficial as well. It is necessary for a program that prepares us for the real world to show us what the real world is like: I lot of lengthy projects. I liked the direction as well, especially toward the design part, where we got to think of who-knows-what to design a cold frame and a complement to the north window. In the end, I really did like this project, and it would be interesting to do a similar one with another topic.