solarray

From void into vision, from vision to mind, from mind into speech, from speech to the tribe, from the tribe into din.

Monday, March 23, 2020

Zero Net Energy - March 23, 2020

Sheridan Small Homes - affordable net zero single family homes in Providence, RI designed by architects and students from RI School of Design
https://cleantechnica.com/2019/11/23/public-private-partnership-building-net-zero-homes-for-low-income-families-in-rhode-island/

Dutch Railways adult swing set for generating power
https://id310.nl/en/play-for-power-ns/

Net zero community planned for Hamburg, Germany
https://www.saota.com/project/neulander-quarree/
https://inhabitat.com/net-zero-community-planned-for-hamburg-will-rely-on-geothermal-and-solar-energy/

Vertical City, a proposal for urban development through a series of modular, zero-energy skyscrapers anchored to the ocean floor
https://www.lucacurci.com/portfolio/vertical-cities-zero-energy-city-building.html
https://inhabitat.com/luca-curci-architects-proposes-a-self-sustainable-vertical-city-of-the-future/

Unisphere, one of the largest net zero energy commercial buildings in the world
https://cleantechnica.com/2019/12/31/a-peak-inside-the-unisphere-one-of-the-worlds-largest-net-zero-buildings/

Park Avenue Green - the largest passive house development in the USA, 154 low income housing units, 46 of which are for formerly homeless tenants
http://www.cplusga.com/works/park-avenue-green-2/
https://cleantechnica.com/2020/01/01/the-largest-passive-house-in-north-america-154-low-income-housing-units-46-for-formerly-homeless/

Net positive 47,000-square-foot building living building opens at Georgia Tech
https://livingbuilding.gatech.edu/kendeda-building-innovative-sustainable-design
https://inhabitat.com/kendeda-a-net-positive-living-building-opens-at-georgia-tech/

Prefab homes that require "84% less energy per square foot to operate than a conventional stick built home” making net zero energy eminently achievable
They can be ordered with solar power and a battery back-up
https://cleantechnica.com/2020/02/20/new-prefab-homes-never-need-to-be-connected-to-the-grid/
https://www.curbed.com/2020/2/14/21135428/prefab-homes-self-powered-dvele
https://www.dvele.com

Canada’s first net-zero carbon, mass timber college building
http://www.dialogdesign.ca/open-dialog/centennial-college-announces-canadas-first-zero-carbon-mass-timber-building/
https://inhabitat.com/canadas-first-net-zero-carbon-mass-timber-college-building-to-rise-in-toronto/

Green Concept House - a zero-waste, 100% self-sustaining home, including growing food
https://www.archdaily.com/934277/green-house-yang-design
https://inhabitat.com/a-zero-waste-self-sustaining-home-of-the-future/

"Edwina Benner Plaza is among the first affordable housing projects in the nation to have zero operating emissions.”  It has 66 apartments in Sunnyvale, CA
https://www.dbarchitect.com/project_detail/202/Edwina%20Benner%20Plaza.html
https://inhabitat.com/new-affordable-housing-in-silicon-valley-boasts-net-zero-emissions/

Vertical Oasis - concept for a green solar-powered skyscraper
https://faab.pl/en/vertical-oasis/
https://inhabitat.com/architects-envision-a-green-solar-powered-skyscraper/

Tuesday, March 03, 2020

Simple Solar Education

Back in the early 1980s I made some 15 second PSAs for the Urban Solar Energy Association [USEA] that were actually shown a couple of times late at night on the local TV stations.

In the early 1990s, I made another set of 30 second PSAs for the Boston Area Solar Energy Association, the successor organization to USEA, but none of them were broadcast as local TV stations all had their own approved non-profits to soak up public interest broadcast time requirements by then.  Or so I was told.  At the same time, I was producing the monthly lectures of the Solar Association and putting them on local cable access.

In the last decade or two I’ve put my share of solar video online at Youtube.  You can see them at http://youtube.com/user/gmoke

So I’ve been dabbling in solar video for a long time.   But not for a long time.  These are relics of what I’ve thought and done with simple solar throughout my life.

The presentation may be amateurish at best but I believe the majority of the information and ideas is accurate although I may have made some mistakes in the details here and there.

May these be of use.

One Square Foot of Sunlight  https://youtu.be/LICMvQCOnkg 
come from the early 1990s and were the 30 second PSAs I was trying to get local TV to broadcast.

Simple Solar Principles  https://youtu.be/6_NN__fS5pM

Solar Is Civil Defense  https://youtu.be/u0mjqjgZ64E
Cell Phone Solar  https://youtu.be/ybxbJ53X4kY
Minimum Solar Light  https://youtu.be/m56Lu2o9Wfc
Homefront Advantage - WWII posters   https://youtu.be/FIlQJg1kSvk
A South-facing Window Is Already a Solar Collector  https://youtu.be/FdGAdEq242M
Solar Windowbox Air Heater  https://youtu.be/lTOe2OYSPlw
Insulating Roller Shade  https://youtu.be/jEh9Bq4qQB8
Old Solar:  1980 Barnraised Aolar Air Heater  https://youtu.be/N8SEwJkEwoc
Old Solar:  1990 Boston Area Solar House Tour  https://youtu.be/NkOkFmq6doI

I believe you can provide people with the essential concepts of practical solar energy within a very short period of time and can even present it as a series of short segments like these Youtube videos

Simple Solar parts 1 - 8
is my one attempt at trying to assemble a curriculum that leads from one possibility to another.
At a skill share.  Whatever happened to those?

Providential Experimentation   https://youtu.be/wC-uqy2qJH0
Worms, worms, worms  https://youtu.be/iMe9ssId0Bk
expands the concept beyond direct solar energy into secondary sources and regenerative systems leading to full geotherapy.

Simply Questions  https://youtu.be/ehKgs_rFhF8
is an attempt to visualize that system in terms of basic logistics