Solar Home (Semester II)
The sun has provided energy to the earth ever since it's creation as a giant radioactive ball of molten minerals. Even now, it continues to indirectly supply our homes and businesses with fossil fuels made from ancient plants. Even now, however, these fossil fuels are in short supply and are damaging the ozone layer surrounding the planet, letting in ultraviolet radiation. Now with the advent of photovoltaic cells, we can gain some of our electricity directly from the sun again, along with an amount of heat. The gathering of this heat is called passive solar technology; the objective of this unit.
This unit consisted of several small projects leading up to the designing and (hopefully) constructing of an entire passive solar building. The first of these investigations included the construction of a solar water heater. The project was based on a sound concept, though there were shortcomings due to, as Max said 'a stupid little thing called instructions'. Admittedly, the printed instructions were a tad bit useless, but it showed the premises of the greenhouse effect, a crucial element in passive solar heating.
The second of these projects was to build a small scale model of a house utilizing daylighting techniques to be used in the final project. Perhaps I should explain.
Several Daylighting techniques
-Skylights; basically windows mounted to the roof of a building. This allows a large amount of light to enter the building at most times of day (if mounted parrallel to the ground).
-Clerestory windows; small windows towards the top of the wall. They exist only to let in sunlight, and are not to be used to look out of.
-Light shelves; used to reflect high-angle sunlight into a window, usually a clerestory.
-Solar tubes; consist of a reflective pipe mounted between the roof and ceiling, penetrating both. Allows any angle sunlight to filter through room
-The Device; This requires further explanation. You'll see.
This unit consisted of several small projects leading up to the designing and (hopefully) constructing of an entire passive solar building. The first of these investigations included the construction of a solar water heater. The project was based on a sound concept, though there were shortcomings due to, as Max said 'a stupid little thing called instructions'. Admittedly, the printed instructions were a tad bit useless, but it showed the premises of the greenhouse effect, a crucial element in passive solar heating.
The second of these projects was to build a small scale model of a house utilizing daylighting techniques to be used in the final project. Perhaps I should explain.
Several Daylighting techniques
-Skylights; basically windows mounted to the roof of a building. This allows a large amount of light to enter the building at most times of day (if mounted parrallel to the ground).
-Clerestory windows; small windows towards the top of the wall. They exist only to let in sunlight, and are not to be used to look out of.
-Light shelves; used to reflect high-angle sunlight into a window, usually a clerestory.
-Solar tubes; consist of a reflective pipe mounted between the roof and ceiling, penetrating both. Allows any angle sunlight to filter through room
-The Device; This requires further explanation. You'll see.
The third and final project was that which would be built in the location of our choice (or that of the group who's design would be built.) Our task was to design a complete passive solar building using all of the techniques that we learned. Each group was to use a $5000 budget (courtesy of PG&E) to make a building with less than 120 ft^2. WE did not have to build the actual structures, however, just design them. The group with the best design would have their structure built with the grant money. I could try to explain our entire structure in this text, but I think it would be more comprehensive if I were to give you a link to a video of our presentation- Courtesy of Max's family.
Enjoy!
https://cloud.real.com/s/wutiCP?lang=en
As it turns out, the final structure is to incorporate elements from a couple structures. Incidentally, parts of our building are to be incorporated in the structure, specifically our slanted roofs and the aluminum reflectors and the device (SCORE!!!). "I'm leaving that bit up to you guys" says Mr. Williams, "Go crazy"
Enjoy!
https://cloud.real.com/s/wutiCP?lang=en
As it turns out, the final structure is to incorporate elements from a couple structures. Incidentally, parts of our building are to be incorporated in the structure, specifically our slanted roofs and the aluminum reflectors and the device (SCORE!!!). "I'm leaving that bit up to you guys" says Mr. Williams, "Go crazy"
The entire project went very smoothly for our group. Everyone worked quite well together and were able accomplish multiple tasks at once, whether it be reasearching materials and compiling a budget report or testing new parts (for the labs) while putting together the write-up. Especially during the designing of the final structure, everybody took a role and completed it in correlation with everyone else in the group. This allowed the final product to come together easily. Although our presentation was well rehearsed, we had to make minor adjustments (or just improvise) due to the abscence of a crucial group member. Thankfully , she gave us her notecards. There were also a few aforementioned issues with the water heater project. After we eliminated the instructions, they all went away- the best solutions are usually the simplest ones. All in all, however, this project was mostly executed without a hitch- something I rarely get to enjoy. Now we just have to get 60 high-school students in on a weekend to use tools and heavy machines to build a small building. What could possibly go wrong?