Energy Concepts Rated

Our group individually rated each system according to the resource flows, then collectively averaged each cell for every concept and its rating under each resource flow.  As a group, we progressed through each concept, one resource flow at a time, and justified the averages collectively, reaching agreements through civil discussion and logical thought. The top three concepts from each resource flow category was then highlighted (the higher the number the better, negatives being more detrimental that productive).  The final organization is a descending sum (resource flow ratings) of each concept; the higher the sum, the better the overall rating. The top three concepts are highlighted in gray.

Transplant Storing Residence Heating Greenhouse

The Transplant Storing/Residence Heating Greenhouse does exactly that, it is an area where seedlings can be kept safe and it is a source of heat for housing. The greenhouse is attached to the residence; however air tight doors between the two structures can eliminate heat created by the greenhouse during warm times such as the summer. Fans may be necessary around the wood stove, depending on what kind of material is used as the greenhouse covering. Fans may also be useful in circulating the warm air throughout the house.

Currently, during the off season, seedlings are started in a greenhouse on WSU campus. Later, transplants are transported from campus to the farm. Having a greenhouse on site that is usable year-around will decrease labor and increase overall farm greenhouse area. This design will ultimately make the smartfarm a more sustainable system.

Heating the greenhouse with a wood stove will decrease energy dependence on other sources such as gas, coal, or oil. The wood stove will definitely be a great enough source to heat the greenhouse and depending on the size of the residence, might be enough to heat it as well. With this design, there will be no heating bill.

Wood material for the stove should be recycled and can come from extra farm material, donations, recycling centers, etc. Material will be needed scarcely because the sun will be acting as the main energy resource.

Misha Manuchehri

Passive Heating

The idea of the Passive House has been applied successfully in Germany and throughout Europe but has been slow to receive attention in the U.S.  Passive houses use a combination of technologies such as super-insulation, elimination of thermal bridges, an airtight shell, and heat-recovering ventilation to seal a house in order to prevent the loss of thermal energy through the structure or through air circulation. 

Ideally passive houses would be heated solely by human body heat and the use of electrical appliances.  This is possible in temperate climates that do not have a large temperature difference between the interior and exterior of a building, but houses in more intensely cold areas must use an additional heating source. 

At the smartFARM, the passive house model could be implemented in combination with a solar heater to provide heat during the colder winter months.  Warm air from the solar heater would displace cool air in the house and provide the necessary ventilation for indoor air quality.  During the summer air would be passed through underground pipes that would exchange heat with the earth creating a cool air current. 

Harvesting Fuel From Algae

In the 2008 growing season the tractor on the farm used 40.7 gallons. We calculate that an algae growing system covering 40 square feet of land running only half of the year could produce over 46 gallons of biofuel. The system would be constructed of plastic tubing arranged in vertical walls with water running through it which would act as the algae growing medium (called a photobioreactor). Necessary inputs to the system are carbon dioxide, water, and nutrients. Outputs are the algae biomass and oxygen. The algae biomass would have its oils pressed out to be used as fuel. The non-lipid biomass would be degraded to produce carbon dioxide, methane and excess biomass. The CO2 and excess biomass would be put back into the growing system to use as nutrients. Excess methane could be used as an extra fuel source.

Algae is one of the best crops for producing fuel because they are some of the fastest growing plants and reproduce within days. Algae are single celled organisms, nutrients supplied to the algae has a high conversion factor into usable biomass compared to say the unusable roots produced in higher plants. Algal strains used in biofuel production can produce 60% of their biomass as lipids which are used for the biodiesel. Although there are necessary inputs for growth and extraction our system could potentially maintain its own CO2 and nutrient requirements.

The extraction process would require a manual press. Depending on the engine of the tractor the extracted oil could be straight, otherwise a conversion kit would have to be used on the tractor.

The walls and accessory parts for this system would be movable and probable set alongside the paths or fallow fields.

Pollination Fuels

Energy self-sufficiency is an important goal for the WSU organic farm, and producing fuels for running our vehicles to and from markets would be an important step toward this goal. While BioEthanol production is a potential vehicle fuel source, it has many drawbacks, one of which is the need for energy, land, and nutrients to grow the source crop, and another is the need for energy to distill the Ethanol. The HoneyFuel ethanol system seeks to overcome both of these obstacles by using a by-product of fruit, vegetable and flower production, honey, to produce ethanol which can then be distilled in a passive solar converter. 

Honey on its own is not fermentable by yeast because of its low moisture content, however, when brought to the hive as nectar, it is nearly 80% water, and is a suitable medium for yeast growth and alcohol production. To eliminate the need for re-nectaring honey, which would waste water and energy, the HoneyFuel system would maintain yeast colonies within the combs, to begin producing alcohol from the nectar as soon as it is brought in and at its most fermentable. The alcohol produced by the yeast would then be directed out of the comb and directly into a passive, solar, distillation unit, where the alcohol and water would be separated with a relatively low energy input. Because honey is only produced in summer, there would be no need for a supplemental power source or still for the shorter, cooler winter season. 

Numbers:

Average hive produces 140 pounds of honey a year, 60 lbs of which is needed for winter. Of the remaining 80 lbs of  honey, 79.5%, or 63 lbs is fermentable sugar. Yeast convert sugar at a 50% efficiency rate, meaning that of this 63 lbs of sugar, 31.8 lbs or 4.83 gallons of ethanol can be produced a year. In an apiary of, say, 25 to 40 hives, this would be a total yield of 120 to 190 gallons of ethanol a year.

Smart Micro Grid

This system would monitor energy use by an individual in any setting where energy is being consumed. A sensor on the person would communicate with a network in a room to monitor and give feedback to the individual as to how much energy they are consuming. This in turn could be used in several different applications.

Applications:

A person who can only afford so much of a technology and therefore so much energy output would be able to use this system to get the most out of their money.

A person who would like to be able to consistently “sell back” energy to the grid could use this system to monitor and make sure they are only using a certain amount of energy.

An individual, who is just trying to be conscientious of their power bill or environmental impact, might use this to keep track of day to day energy use.

Implications:

As a whole this could also be used to deplete peak energy demands. The system could hypothetically give feedback on when to perform certain energy intensive chores, such as running the dryer or dishwasher. Drawing away from peak power demand will produce fewer emissions from sources that are used to reach that energy output. When a peak rises, coal plants are typically used to reach that higher demand. With a lower peak we could rely more on hydro and solar power to reach the energy demand.

Josh Gile

Algae are the common “new thing” for energy production, but that doesn’t mean the application of an innovative new process can’t be innovate itself.  Once again taking my module system, I really thought about how and why I would take what is currently only applied to a grand scale. Today, what little in algae production is, of course in terms of innovation, built for the larger application of energy production for a scale of perhaps a neighborhood.  At least that is where the innovation is taking place - for future grand scale application.   Why not take a similar approach to the algae production and scale it to individual use, for instance, powering a microwave or a room.  Furthermore, how can we take this system and make it architectural so that the user can be involved in the process at least visually, instead of ignoring the process in a greenhouse or shoving it in a closet.

By modulating the system, we get efficiency through redundancy.  It may be expensive to engineer the singular system, but hopefully, through the redundancy and scale of the module, it may pay off quickly on the larger scale of the entire complex. The design of the module takes the idea of an evacuated tube taken from the system concept of Solar Thermal. The evacuated tube would be used to heat up the atmosphere for the algae to produce all year round, but as seen with Solar Thermal, it is too efficient.  While water can overheat, the same cannot be said for successful algae production.   A secondary atmospheric pressure chamber would be added in between the evacuated chamber and the algae chamber so that heat evacuation may be provided through sensory vents. The unit would be experiential, allowing different light qualities through each tube, differentiated by the density or progression of algae production.  When the algae is new growth, it would be less dense and typically lighter (depending on the species), allowing a differentiated experience from the more ambient light of the older growth algae (denser and typically darker).

The preliminary process would happen locally in the module, where the algae is destroyed and fats and sugars are remaining.  The fats and sugars would then be taken to a processing module where the more complex processes of separating the fats from the sugars would take place.  Also here would be where the “fuel” from the fats would be produced.  Lastly, the “fuel” would be converted into electricity locally and put into the grid for use, instead of taking a fuel cell and move it around the house when full.  This would simplify the input required by the user.  Perhaps if the processing system is “apple” engineered, the module could be glass fronted so that it can be further visually investigated vy the use.  

Micro-Hydro-Turbine

    

The idea here is for the skin of the building to hold rainwater that can then flow through a micro-hydro-turbine to generate electricity.  The form of the building is influenced to facilitate in capturing rainwater.  The water could be contained in the skin of the building and enhance the experiential quality of the space.

Jonathan Follett

The necessity to create a viably renewable energy source and associate that source with the diversity of needs on the farm was a challenge. I strongly believe in the production of biofuels to meet energy needs. I think that the use of biofuels parallels some of the ideals that people share with organic farming. I also think that part of the biofuels could come directly from the farm. The idea for using algae came from research done in the first segment of this course, structure. The research being done now is taking what was learned from early research and expanding on it, to include genetically engineered strains of algae in order to find the highest yield strain.

The system I liked best however was one that was not totally concerned with mass production, but rather just production. This way they left the door open for the small scale operation. The diagram above is their network diagram explaining production, extraction and utilization. Similar to the original presentation on algae for structure, I would like to see this technology somehow be utilized in the walls of the buildings and used as an aesthetic design feature and outreach portion of the farm. A major reason that algae should be used for energy production is that it is not a food crop. This means that; minimal land is required, the growth cycle of the algae can be done in waste, brackish or salt water and in the process the water is cleaned, algae consumes substantial rates of CO2, and there are rapid harvest rates.

If given the right environment of growth, algae can double its weight several times a day. The exponential rate of growth combined with this systems live extraction, create a very efficient source of energy. Algae grown in ponds can produce around 15,000 gallons of useable bio-diesel per acre per year. It takes around 5,000 gallons to heat 5,000 sf of living space annually with a furnace (including hot water). That leaves 10,000 gallons to be used for machinery on the farm and any excess can always be sold. That is if all if it were grown in ponds. This system produces the algae in bioreactors that can be stacked vertically and produced at many different scales. The surface area greatly increases because algae grown in ponds can only successfully do it in a half inch mat. Bioreactors create a volume of algae to get all the light they need to produce so the production is a limit of space and not land surface area.

http://www.originoil.com/technology/overview.html

http://www.oilgae.com/algae/oil/extract/extract.html

Algae Energy

Building on my water idea from last week, I continued with the algae wall. I was exploring the idea of having energy available at the point of its need. To do this with the algae wall, I broke the panels into smaller, more manageable pieces. Each panel can slide from one position to another with minimal effort by the user. The two-layered panel still provides options for more or less shading and thermal mass, but now it is moveable, as well. This will allow residents to collect heat during the day (filtering out any unwanted heat and light) and moving it to where it is needed at night. The user could then move the panel closer or farther from them depending on what their needs are. The algae system can also be used to create biomass and fuel that can be used for mechanical or electrical energy. Radiant heat tubes are also running through the algae to take heat to create hot water and radiant heat in the flooring.

Energy from Raindrops

A question was posed asking whether the energy of raindrops might be converted to electricity.  A study on this was done in Grenoble, France, with the use of a PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride) polymer, which is a piezoelectric material that converts mechanical energy into electricity.  The vibration created by a raindrop impacting a PVFD membrane produces electrical charges, which are then captured by electrodes in the material.  Since the material used is a plastic, it could be used to cover the roof of a greenhouse.  According to the study, for continental climates in France, nearly 1 Wh of energy could be produced per square meter in one year.  Adjusted to the rainfall in Pullman, that would be slightly less (0.73 Wh).  Applied to the 600 sq. ft. greenhouse currently on the farm, that would mean an annual output of 40.84 Wh.  While this seems to be an insignificant number, it would be enough to power such devices as sensors. 

Piezoelectric materials could also be used along with small generators to store energy from appliances and tractors, which produce vibrational energy.

                                                                         Calculus sheet

For France - for Continental Climate (e.g. In Vaucluse) :

             Rainfall :  693.4  mm/year  =  27.3 in/year

             Energy per area :  1 Wh /m²

For Pullman,

             Rainfall :  20 in/year

  so,    Energy per area :  20*1/27.3= 0.7326 Wh/ m²

Our current greenhouse has an area of 600sf = 55.74 m².

The rainfall in Pullman will allow us to obtain : 40.84 Wh/yr

For a greenhouse of :

    1 acre (= 4046.86 m²), we will produce : 2964.73 Wh/yr

    5 acres:  14823.65 Wh/yr.

If we use a 60W fluorescent light bulb (LB) - which is 23 incandescent watts :

The 600 sf greenhouse roof will power : almost 2 LB for 1 hr

1 acre: 128.9 LB for 1 hr

5 acre: 664.5 LB for 1 hr

While this does not seem like much, some sensors require a lot less energy to be powered.

If we use for instance the Hewlett Packard power sensor 8481B that requires 1 mW (=min. power range) to be powered :

For the 600 sf greenhouse roof we can power :  40.84/ (10^^-3 * 24*365.25) = 4.66 sensors / yr.

For 1 acre: 2964.73/(10^^-3 * 24*365.25) = 338.21 sensors / yr.

For 5 acres: 338.21* 5 =  1691 sensors /yr.

Christophe Parroco and Jennifer Johnston

Phase Change Materials

Phase change materials (PCM) absorb extra heat that is present during the day, stores it, and releases it at a later time. This system provides for a more stable temperature during the day without large peaks of high or low temperatures (around 70 to 79 degrees F). The PCM will have a certain melting point that relates to the desired room temperature. When the temperature goes above the melting point, the material (usually a waxy material) will change from a solid to a liquid and absorb extra heat energy during the phase change process. Once the room temperature starts to get below the material’s melting point the material will change back to a solid, thus releasing the heat that was stored in the material.

PCM are compatible with steel and wood framing. They reduce the need for heating and cooling by increasing the efficiency of the system by 30-40 %. PCM can be incorporated into many different buildings components including, but not limited to walls, ceilings, and floor systems. A company out of Germany, BASF, has developed gypsum wall boards containing PCM that are capable of storing heat. PCM Smart boards are comparable to concrete and masonry on their heat storage ability, only these require far less material. 15 mm of Gypsum wall board with PCM has an equivalent heat storage capacity of 14 cm thick concrete or 36.5 thick brick wall.

Fun Fact: The PCM itself is formaldehyde free so it can be used in accordance with the solar decathlon!

Kyle Holman & Danny Tappel

Sources:

http://www.micronal.de/portal/streamer?fid=402747

Piezoelectric Walls Convert Wind to Energy

As opposed to wind turbines, there is a need to investigate harvesting the wind as it flows around our buildings. Here we see a new consideration to the exterior elements in terms of our building materials and tectonics- and most importantly, energy production. Being on site, especially on the southern acres and on the crest of the hills, one can tell that the wind can become quiet strong. The idea that the exterior walls could capture the wind through piezoelectrics is plausible, yet the amount of energy that it could generate is still minimal. Using the idea of vortex shedding, when the wind hits the walls, it will drive the “leaves” to bend downstream in the air wake allowing us to collect the AC signal from the flapping piezo-leaf. The flapping motion is attributed to instability of the aero-elastic system, and considering the unpredictable wind strength and diverse outdoor ambient, that is why they would ideally be made out of a flexible piezoelectric material like Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF). Once the AC signal is collected from the leaf, which is working on a periodic bending model, the electrical energy is stored in a capacitor after rectifying it with a full-wave bridge. Based around a modular brick system, the concept implies that each brick would have an allotted amount of “leaves” with a flexible piezo generator at their stem, which would then route the harvested energy to the connected network. Right now the energy generated may be enough to power a light-bulb or two, but over time the power could also be stored in a battery for later use.

Here are some cool sites regarding research on piezoelectrics that show the potential for this energy source in the future:

http://ccsl.mae.cornell.edu/node/116 (research on the “leaf” idea by the Cornell Computational Synthesis Laboratory)

http://peswiki.com/energy/Directory:Piezoelectric (resources related to energy generation and harvesting using piezoelectric effects)

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/03/grow-solar-piezo-electric-concept.php#ch02 (solar/ piezoelectric concept developed by SMIT for an Industrial Design Thesis; appeared at the MoMA’s “Design and Elastic Mind” exhibition in NY in May 2009)

Mackenzie King

waste- energy- fertilizer

Photosynthesis comes first. Plants store the energy as carbohydrates, and then we harvest the crops and leave residues. The residues yield energy, either for us directly or for the micro-organisms that decompose the plant matter. When the process is done, plant-essential nutrients are left.

The first model is biogas generation from farm waste: crop residue, or the more concentrated animal manure. An anaerobic fermentation system extracts methane for domestic cooking, heating and potential electric power generation from the farm waste and the gray water of the residential facility. Batch processing requires an awareness of energy consumption on the part of the residents: more demand may exceed supply and require supplemental inputs such as propane to provide domestic cooking and space heating needs. Surplus production may require methane powered electrical power generation to store temporary surplus on the grid.

The leftover slurry is excellent fertilizer, but to qualify for organic practices and health codes, would need to be applied to perennials, flowers, or green manure crops, or be applied 90 days before harvest.

The second model is to use biomass in the form of orchard prunings as a fuel for domestic space heating. The method is the masonry wood stove (also known as the Russian fireplace or Swedish wood stove.) Small wood scraps are burned in a high oxygen environment to ensure complete combustion with minimal creosote, and the thermal energy stored in a massive thermal structure with considerable surface extraction area for exhaust gasses. The fly-ash that remains is a useful mineral fertilizer.

Energy Monitoring System

Since the Smart Farm is going to be using a lot of energy drawing from several different sources to achieve its self sustainability, a monitoring system would be of great value to monitor the usage of the different types of energy on the farm.

The different types of sustainable energy that we are suspecting will be used on the farm will be electrical (wind and solar, possibly energy from the grid), and biomass.  The output yield of the farm will also be monitored, such as food and crops.  All of these sources of energy will be monitored by different methods.

For the electrical system, a digital system can be used to monitor the energy usage over time on the farm.  This is the easiest to implement, because there are already multiple systems in existence that do this.

For fossil fuels, monitoring the fuel usage will either have to be hand recorded if obtained off site, or it could also have a digital monitoring sensor system if the fuel is obtained from a storage tank on site.

For biomass, it is unsure how to measure the energy, since we don’t know what method we will be using for extracting energy from the biomass.

For food and crops, there will probably need to be a lot of user input to record the data.  Weight will likely be the measurement of interest.

All these different energy sources will be monitored and logged in a trend log so that someone can view the inputs (energy usage) and the outputs (food and crops) of the farm, so that improvements can be made over time. Ideally, there would be a feature to plug in a portable notebook to download trend log data to a database, which can then be viewed in database software.  Just as a financial budget increases awareness and smart money spending, having an energy monitoring system will allow the user to observe the amount of energy used, and how.

Ryan Town and Derek Welsh

Plant Power!

What if we could harness the power of plants? Studies at University of Washington and Massachusetts Institute of Technology have shown some interesting progress. The MIT study showed that “plants can generate up to 200 millivolts when one electrode is placed in a plant and the other in the surrounding soil.” These same researchers are working with a company called Voltree, and developing a technology to power early forest fire detection sensors, which is already being tested near Boise, ID. The students at UW have been working on a similar technology that use trees to power sensors. In essences, their technology stores energy then boosts it to a useable level.

I this is an extremely viable option for our sensor needs on site. Using this small, but measureable direct current to power temperature and humidity sensors on the organic farm is an intriguing concept. Instead of adding yet another leach to the power grid, why not use a harvest power from a source that already is present on the organic farm.  

The people at Voltree are have created sensors that detect air temperature and humidity, which are exactly what we have talked about needing on the farm, specifically in the hoop houses. There has been some discussion involving specific Decagon Sensors that could be utilized on the farm as well. I think this is a very realistic way to power these sensors on the farm. Some engineering may be required to make the boost converter work with the sensors, but some collaboration with Voltree and researchers at UW could make this a reality.

http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleID=51869

http://voltreepower.com/vproducts/key-features.php

  

Hydro power can play a significant role in energy production on the farm.  A stream engine from Energy Systems and Design, Ltd.  (http://www.microhydropower.com/sefly.pdf), is capable of storing 165 kW*hrs for 800 hours of run time on a full 468,000 gallon tank assuming 2.5 liters/second.   The excess energy gathered from the PV arrays and wind, if used, would be used to pump water up to the top of the hill.  When excess power is needed, a valve would open and send water through a turbine, producing 200 Watts of instantaneous power.  For perspective, an average home consumes about 8,900 kW*hrs per year.  Assuming 16 hrs per day of constant load, this equates to 1.5 kW continuous power. The water storage system would allow for a significant ammount renewable energy to be stored and made available when demand is increased on site.

According to the above website, power distribution for on-site generation relies on a battery bank to regulate power and divert excess power to a shunt load.  Instead of wasting power to a shunt load, the pump could draw on this power source.

Ceramic baterries are an alternate aproach to store energy. Ceramic batteries similar to this one: http://tinyurl.com/l6f77h 

This battery is the size of a refrigerator and can store 20 to 40 kW hrs and is projected to cost $2,000 dollars which equates to $0.03 per kW hr stored for the life of the battery.

Christina Duncan, Tim Olson, Josh Doerr

Energy Mashup Questions

A photo of our Mashup Board, questions and ideas gernated in our brainstorming session on energy, is provided below.  We are using a new technology called GigaPan that is allowing us to maintain the relationship between our idea cards in a detalied panoramic photo. 

Click on any of the snapshot items to focus on the group of cards.  Double click on any of the cards to zoom-in and read more closely.  Click and drag to move around the board.

If you have any problems navigating on this page simply visit the site directly from this link. And register if you would like to comment on any of the snapshots or even make some of your own!