Month: October 2017

Water Heat Recycling

Water Heat Recycling

Water Heat Recycling

10/04/17

“How can we recycle some of the warm water from our showers?”

 

There is something very wrong with our water use. We spend a great deal of energy making hot water for our showers, and once it’s used it gets completely wasted! So how can we use our engineering mindset to solve this problem? Well, we know that this hot water has a certain amount of energy associated with it. And we also know that we can extract some of this energy to perform useful processes. So what if we were to take the wasted water and run it through a heat exchanger to warm some other water? This could save us a large amount of time and energy dedicated since if we wanted to warm up the other water to be used in household applications, we would need less energy. This is the fundamental idea behind Water Heat Recycling and is used in buildings all over the world.

How microgrids can help get Puerto Rico back on its feet

How microgrids can help get Puerto Rico back on its feet

How microgrids can help get Puerto Rico back on its feet

10/03/17

“How can the people of Puerto Rico use microgrid technology to help get their infrastructure up and running?”

 

For those of you who are out of the loop, a recent hurricane has totaled the energy infrastructure of Puerto Rico. As much as 95% of the island is out of power, affecting around 3.5 million individuals! But how can the people of Puerto Rico use their engineering mindset to fix this problem? Well, if they have been keeping up on recent trends, then they might have heard of a little technology called microgrids. They can be set up much quicker than for a centralized grid to be repaired and are even cheaper to run. The German company Sonnen GmbH is already supplying the people of Puerto Rico with these much-needed systems.

Autonomous Buildings

Autonomous Buildings

Autonomous Buildings

10/02/17

“Can we create buildings that provide all of its own needs?”

 

Buildings are traditionally created with the assumption that all resources such as energy and water will be provided by an external source. But what if our area does not have such a privilege? Well, what if we to use our engineering mindset to make buildings that provide their own necessities, such as using onsite generation for electricity, recycling water systems, and even hydroponics for food? Well, this is the fundamental idea behind autonomous buildings and is an idea to be taken into great consideration for future architects and engineers.

 

Louvers

Louvers

Louvers

10/01/17

“How can we have open windows that prevent rain from coming in?”

 

Open windows can be great for letting in air and light to brighten up a home. However, one downside is that they can’t protect buildings from the rain. So can we use our engineering mindset to fix this? So what if we were to simply add in blinds with horizontal slants? This would protect us any vertically following objects. Well, this machine is known as a louver and is used in homes around the world as a low-cost solution for internal climate control.