A quick reminder that Solar Decathlon Europe (SDE) of 2012 has begun, taking place in Madrid, Spain, between September 14-30, 2012. SDE resulted from the Spanish and U.S. governments having signed a memorandum of understanding in which the Spanish Ministry of Housing committed to organize and host Solar Decathlon Europe, a complementary competition to the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon. This month, I will be bringing you quite a few clips and posts on visits to various solar designs. For today, it is the design of Canopea by the Rhone-Alps Project of France that had taken the lead for Prize of the Architecture Contest.
Canopea answers the problems of densification of the cities, the Team Rhone-Alps came up with the innovative solar project of habitat integrating qualities of the individual habitat within a urban context. Canopea is a collective of “nanotowers” (small buildings), inscribed within a neighborhood. Nanotowers are a series of individual homes, stacked together in a small tower, with a common floor/space shared by inhabitants on the top of each tower. Nanotowers are all connected to the city, transit network, services and shops. Concept of an urban ecosystem is based on connections between buildings on the scale of a neighborhood, district, and the city, pulling together every energy systems available (thermo, electric smart grid and home automation systems). The design itself is inspired by the canopy, the upper portion of branches and foliage of a tree. It works as a real ecosystem to catch 95% of the solar energy and 30% of the precipitation. The canopea project also includes the agricultural possibility and reduces the environmental footprint of the project by making it partially self sufficient for food by having a portion of the project surface area devoted to growing herbs and vegetables that may be used directly for cooking. A vertical farm located at the central space of the block provides large space for agrarian productions. The skin is the thermal envelope of the nanotower homes while the shell supports the photovoltaic system and lateral blind to filter sunlight. On each floor, canopea is organized around three boxes. A prefabricated core containing all fluids and technical system. Common space allows residents to socialize, children to play, place to BBQ, and laundry area. Two top floors of the nanotower have been built for the Solar Decathlon 2012. For passive system: In summer the skin is protected from the sun by louvre, venetian shutters, and micro-perforated sunscreen. This cooling will not consume any energy. The active system cools the house via air supply and radiant panels which also allows heating in winter. Without further ado, let’s have a look at the Canopea design, below:
~have a bright and sunny day~
gathered, written, and posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker, sunisthefuture @gmail.com
If you are in favor of renewable, clean, or solar energy, please sign this petition for FIT/CLEAN Program, accessible at http://sunisthefuture.net/?page_id=1065Thank you very much.
As you recall our May 30, 2012 post in http://sunisthefuture.net about the Solar Tree, the brilliance behind this combination of art and function may be able to branch out to touch many many more earthlings in the years to come.
After my research on the subject of Solar Tree post in http://sunisthefuture.net , I am naturally drawn to any thing that is connected to any mention of solar tree…and came across this Solar Dream/Solar Tree Foundation/Solar Tree Project:San Francisco Bay area….
It all started with a dream….A solar Dream….and a magical enchantment found in the trees…. a simple e-mail communication between a school teacher and an artist…on opposite coasts of the US…and the SEED of The Solar Tree Project found a home… and germinated……nurtured by the hopes and dreams of children of North School…the support of administration, teachers..and parents …..it grew…and grew…into a project with intentions to erect Solar trees all over the GLOBE!
The students of the Solar Tree Club at San Francisco Bay area school and students of Ms. Ping and Ms. Bautista’s Enrichment Program will collaborate with famous artist, and sculptor Mr. Rein Triefeldt, to erect the first ever… Solar Kinetic Sculpture Tree. This Solar Kinetic Sculpture Tree will be erected on our school campus as the product of ongoing learning about alternative energy and conservation in class. It will stand as the first major public work of art in San Francisco Bay area community and the birth mother of many other art trees all over the world. The Solar Tree sculpture will stand as a hopeful reminder to our community of the childrens’ hopes and dreams for a world that understands the importance of global collaboration and a commitment to a sustainable Earth.
Our dream is to see The Solar Tree Project…grow trees all over the globe. Connections for future solar tree artwork in Miami Florida, China and Japan are in the works. (Solar Tree Foundation at solartree.org )
The initial spark of this dream had generated a great deal of energy and enthusiasm for students in San Fran Bay area school.
They even formed Solar Tree Club
Cheering On Solar Tree Project
Solar Tree Sculpture
Using Legos & Kinex Toys
Students Building Solar Tree From The Ground Up
At the moment, this project is in need of sponsorship and additional cooperative effort from others in order to branch out. So if any of you students, teachers, potential sponsors, or any one who may be interested in becoming involved with this project, please feel free to contact Ms. Angela Ping via angpingong@me.com
Here at Sun Is The Future of http://sunisthefuture.net , we’d like to be the catalyst for as many successful solar projects on planet earth as possible. Perhaps then, we can spread more sunshine across our planet earth.
~have a bright and sunny day~
written and posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker, sunisthefuture@gmail.com
If you are in favor of renewable, clean, or solar energy, please sign this petition for FIT/CLEAN Program, accessible at http://sunisthefuture.net/?page_id=1065Thank you very much.
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Dear Friends and Readers,
Do you remember our January posts (Jan. 5, 6, 7, 9, 2012) regarding solar cookers ? Take a look/read of them to refresh your memory. Then, I will discuss a new challenge with you. As some of you may have tried and found out, solar cookers only work for a few hours in the middle of a sunny day, but not at night or in the mornings when people actually want to cook. If we can use solar cookers any time of the day and night, it could replace open fires, solve dire deforestation, and indoor air pollution problems in developing countries. So, last year, the Climate Healers, an international development technology organization, issued a design challenge after their traditional solar cookers failed to catch on in mountain villages in Rajasthan, India. The Climate Healers is designing a new cooker that stores the solar energy by day to release it at night. Students at the University of Iowa, working with Climate Healers, surveyed the women (who would use such a cooker) and found that they were enthusiastic about a new design that will enable them to use solar cooking during nights.
The starting point is a modified Blazing Tube solar cooker that serves as a baseline,
but it needs improvement. So, the Climate Healers has turned to the E4C (Engineering for Change) for help. The baseline design places a three-gallon glass cylinder in the crook of a compound parabolic reflector-basically a tube on the bottom of a half pipe. The tube filled with one gallon of oil and an air bubble, warms throughout the day and releases heat at night or the next morning through a heat pipe that the chef controls. Climate Healers replaced the oil and air with three gallons of table salt. The salt heated to 626F (330C) at the center of the tube, enough to yield 1KW hour of energy, enough to cook flat bread and lentils for about an hour.
The head of Climate Healers, Sailesh Rao, feels more needs to be done before reaching the final design because of the requirement for transporting large, fragile tubes to remote regions and the need to store adequate energy without leaks all need to be met. So these three aspect need to be considered: 1. Energy capture 2. Energy storage 3. Energy delivery.
Just think that these designs have the potential to contribute to better health and healthier forests in India and many parts of the world. Since early 2011, many teams of people have accepted the challenge of making a solar cookstove that works at night. By Dec. 25, 2011, ten designs meeting this challenge had surfaced. I would like to invite you to visit these ten designs of solar cookstove that works at night . These ten designs are: iHawk Cooker, Heat delivery system, PETE induction cookstove, CARES stove, Scheffler cooker, Solar box cooker, Parabolic cooker with steam, Box cooker with steam, Molten-salt solar cooker, Solar cooker with oil.
My hat off to Climate Healers and Engineering for Change (E4C) ! Again, we see the importance of the cooperative effort in solving our world’s problems, meeting our world’s challenges.
For those of you interested in the final results, after re-examination of the solar kilometers actually traveled, and the issue of protest, I am posting the exact quotes (bold print) from www.worldsolarchallenge.org for your perusal, followed by two links (one is of the pre-examination results and one is of the post-examination).
Teams not able to maintain a reasonable minimum speed are invited to maximise their experience in the event by running their solarcar for a few hours each day before moving their car forward in their truck or on their trailer. The rules surrounding this exercise allow a great deal of flexibility in their application to enable the particular circumstances and the conditions to be taken into consideration.
The finalisation of the results was delayed mostly by the contention of one team who, so desperate to show their sponsors a clean finish, demanded recognition of a place the number of irregularities involved denied them.
A small number of teams questioned the number of solar kilometres attributed to them so the decision was taken to audit all the log books where these are recorded in the team log by the Observer (which the team manager should sign at the end of each day) and transmitted to Mission Control for incorporation into the overall results.
Interesting errors such as trailered Km being substituted for Solar Km, and solar credits being given to Control Points instead of actual distance covered were discovered and the complications of this event outlined earlier led to some interesting arithmetic from some Observers! Some gained from the exercise, others not. The figures have now been checked and cross checked with the result that we are now able to verify the Official Record and present the final results.
Please note that there are some changes in rankings and km/solar distance traveled for various teams after the 7th position.
Again, I would like to implore you all to refer/read my post of Nov. 3, 2011, http://sunisthefuture.net/?m=20111103 and let’s remind ourselves the spirit of World Solar Challenge is that of discovery and learning from our experiences/lessons.
Human interest and lessons learned will follow….
~have a bright & sunny day~
written & posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker, sunisthefuture@gmail.com
If you are in favor of renewable, clean, or solar energy, please sign this petition for FIT/CLEAN Program, accessible at http://sunisthefuture.net/?page_id=1065Thank you very much.
I have not yet received any official notice of any modifications to Veolia World Solar Challenge 2011 results. The most I’ve discovered was an alleged issue involving discrepancy between the actual solar distance traveled vs. distance recorded by one of the teams. To combat this issue, it’d be a good idea to have at least two time/record keepers at each segment traveled (to guard against potential human errors). Of course, resources available (be it in terms of man or monetary power) may be a constraint. I will be sure to post any changes ASAP upon notice. In the meantime, I am searching for more details of the Veolia World Solar Challenge 2011, hoping to find more information about the protest of the provisional results from any participating teams. During the search, I came across this wonderful post by some one, Lucy Fielding, who was on the Cambridge University Eco Racing (CUER) Endeavor 2009 design team. Ms. Fielding reminds us the intended focus and spirit of this event and I implore you all to take few minutes to truly absorb/share the emotion and intensity level of Veolia World Solar Challenge 2011 at: http://www.cuer.co.uk/blog/wsc/2011/11/03/lucys-race-report-2/
And Daniel Chambers, head of the electrical team of the CUER Endeavor 2011, with details on various working components for the solar cars. This is also a post well worth the read, especially for those who may be thinking of participating in the World Solar Challenge in the future:
I have learned from both Ms. Fielding and Mr. Chambers that tremendous amount of pre-planning is necessary for all participating teams at Veolia World Solar Challenge and it is the experience of a lifetime for those participated.
More will follow….
written & posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker, sunisthefuture@gmail.com
Here is a quick note reporting on the fact that Veolia World Solar Challenge 2011 Result is being challenged: we will report/update on the final results of the Veolia World Solar Challenge 2011 by the end of the day. Apparently, there was some issue regarding the number of kilometers actually traveled by certain team and Veolia World Solar Challenge team is re-examining all steps and numbers in order to carefully insure the integrity of the Veolia World Solar Challenge. Mr. Chris Selwood, the leader and rightful owner of Veolia World Solar Challenge, wants to remind every one involved that the goal and focus of Veolia World Solar Challenge is to increase greater awareness and education for our future generations in application of solar energy in cars and to stimulate greater interest in math, science, and engineering. He hopes that every one involved will not lose sight of this focus.
While awaiting the final results, I am providing two links that may be of interest to you all, below:
1. General Regulations of the Veolia World Solar Challenge 2011:
2. Provisional Results, subject to protest from one of the teams and “such cannot remain provisional until the outcome of the protest is determined” (according to www.worldsolarchallenge.org):
If you are in favor of renewable, clean, or solar energy, please sign this petition for FIT/CLEAN Program, accessible at http://sunisthefuture.net/?page_id=1065Thank you very much.
This post may had been prepared/written earlier than the day it appears, but right after the finish of the Veolia World Solar Challenge (world solar car race of twenty countries, 3021 km (1877 mi) between Darwin, Australia, to Angle Vale (official finish line) and Adelaide (ceremonial finish line), Australia, and thirty-seven solar cars) I had to fly to a location/ country where my internet access was not very convenient (it kept on being disconnected whenever I tried to write). However, I was able to load up various video clips onto youtube and I hope many of you have been enjoying these videos about the Veolia World Solar Challenge of 2011. I understand one of you from Netherland is trying to gather as much information about the race as possible. Since this is my first time covering Veolia World Solar Challenge, or WSC (and only had time and budget for the start and end of the race), I hope these photos I took and video clips I uploaded (and filmed by Mike) to youtube will help to meet part of your need. I promise you in two years (next Veolia World Solar Challenge) more detailed coverage about the scrutineering process (before the race) and events along the race will be included. Please keep in mind that the goal and focus of this World Solar Challenge is to increase greater awareness and education for our future generations in application of solar energy in cars and to stimulate greater interest in math, science, and engineering. The emphasis is both in how far and how fast (rather than just how fast) these solar cars can go using energy from the sun. As a matter of fact, part of the rule this year had actually restricted total surface area of the solar cells to 6 sq m and of which only 3 sq m can be of GaAs (gallium arsenide) so to even the playing field. Facility is available if a solar car needs to be “trailered” when insufficient sunshine is available for the duration of the race. This year, due to the extra challenges of cloudiness, rain, and bush fire, only about 7 out of 37 solar cars were able to finish the course completely using solar energy. The atmosphere at WSC is friendly and encouraging rather than fiercely competitive. One finds this to be true either in the scrutineering process (insuring safety of drivers/pilots and those around), tracking of the timing (please refer to: http://www.worldsolarchallenge.org/files/318_2011_veolia_world_solar_challenge_provisional_results_pending_protests.pdf), or in the finish presentation (ritual dip in the Victoria Fountain by all teams (those that were not too shy or too cold) at the end of the race or not so ritual “burning rubber” of the German team). Finally, I’d like to take my hat off to Veolia World Solar Challenge 2011 team for being able to pull off a race of this magnitude (involving solar cars from twenty countries) with mostly volunteers working together to make this race work. Running an organization composed of mostly volunteers is not the same as running a normal company (I’ve had experience in both and believe me, running an organization composed mostly of volunteers is not easy!). So, if any of you out there with good ideas (to help improve the solar car race), funding, or time to volunteer, perhaps you’d like to contact Mr. Chris Selwood (leader and rightful owner of Veolia World Solar Challenge) and/or the organization at http://www.worldsolarchallenge.org/contact_us For the ease and convenience of our readers’ pleasures, there are written descriptions for these solar cars with each of the youtube video clip of the interviews for its team members. So please be sure to read (click on “Show more” at each youtube clip) about the descriptions for these solar cars. I tried to take photograph and to interview as many of the participating solar cars of Veolia World Solar Challenge 2011 as possible, but due to time constraint, please forgive me if I missed any one. With regard to all the video interviews at youtube, if any of the interviewees’ names is either misspelled or not mentioned, please feel free to contact me at sunisthefuture@gmail.com so I can make the necessary modification. Below, you will find links to our youtube clips/interviews with various teams and photographs of these solar cars. Keep in mind that these videos and photos pertaining to Veolia World Solar Challenge 2011 are under Creative Commons as long as you would attribute it/them to Sun Is The Future at http://sunisthefuture.net There will be more posts on human interest stories and lessons learned regarding Veolia World Solar Challenge 2011 later.
Nuon Solar Team's Nuna 6 (Netherlands), 2nd Winning Team that arrived at Adelaide, Australia
9. Arrival of Nuna 6 of Nuon Solar Team (Netherlands), Second Winning Team of Veolia World Solar Challenge 2011, at Victoria Square of Adelaide, Australia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdNZei5kJmw
University of Michigan's Quantum (USA), 3rd Winning Team that arrived at Adelaide, Australia
11. Arrival of Quantum of University of Michigan (USA), Top Third Winning Team of Veolia World Solar Challenge 2011, at Victoria Square of Adelaide, Australia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E6yO30-5Q8
12. Interview with Ashiya University (Japan) Solar Car Project’s Ashiya Sky Ace V team (4th car that arrived) member at Veolia World Solar Challenge 2011: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtkKA2MKyYs
Ashiya University Solar Car Project's Ashiya Sky Ace V (Japan), 4th Winning Team arriving at Adelaide, Australia
MIT Solar Electric Vehicle Team's Chopper Del Sol (USA)
25. Interview with MIT’s Chopper Del Sol (USA) team member minutes before the beginning of the race at Veolia World Solar Challenge 2011: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8r2rVpfnEM
If you are in favor of renewable, clean, or solar energy, please sign this petition for FIT/CLEAN Program, accessible at http://sunisthefuture.net/?page_id=1065Thank you very much.
Despite his busy schedule during the Veolia World Solar Challenge 2011, Mr. Chris Selwood managed to squeeze in a terrific interview with Sun Is The Future, so to enable our readers to have a better understanding of the history and purpose behind Veolia World Solar Challenge 2011. Mr. Selwood is a man of positive energy, enthusiasm, and vision. He was previously seen in our footage as the Master of Ceremony on Oct. 16, 2011, at the Open Ceremony of Veolia World Solar Challenge 2011 in Darwin, Australia (in front of the Parliament House), and the voice behind the announcement as each and every one of the solar cars pulled in to the Victoria Square (the ceremonial finish line) of Adelaide, Australia. He deserves a great round of applause from all of us who have participated/viewed/reported in/on Veolia World Solar Challenge 2011 for he had brought energy and vision to all of our hopes in the future for solar energy. Without further ado, here we have Mr. Chris Selwood:
written, interviewed, and posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker, sunisthefuture@gmail.com, filmed by Michael Nunamaker
If you are in favor of renewable, clean, or solar energy, please sign this petition for FIT/CLEAN Program, accessible at http://sunisthefuture.net/?page_id=1065Thank you very much.
Continuing on with our top three winning teams arriving at Victoria Square in Adelaide, Australia, Quantum team members of University of Michigan of USA presented us with Michigan’s eleventh generation car by completely revamping its design strategy. The team was able to take off 200 lbs from the previous vehicle weight and reduced the aerodynamic drag significantly. Combining the engineering improvements and smart driving strategy, with a strong family members’ support, it is no wonder that this team is widely recognized as the best team in North America and being able to come in as one of the top three winning teams in the Veolia World Solar Challenge 2011.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E6yO30-5Q8 The positive energy of these three top teams’ members is palpable as they all hopped into the Victoria Fountain, in full exuberance. I even caught one of the University of Michigan team members’ successful attempt at reaching the top of the fountain on film, seen in one of the photos below, along with an interview with one of the female members and driver of the team, Rachel Kramer (yes, there are female drivers/pilots in Veolia World Solar Challenge 2011 !):
written & posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker, sunisthefuture@gmail.com
If you are in favor of renewable, clean, or solar energy, please sign this petition for FIT/CLEAN Program, accessible at http://sunisthefuture.net/?page_id=1065Thank you very much.
On Friday of Oct. 21, 2011, around 10:15 A.M., the enthusiastic crowd waited for arrival of Nuna 6 of Nuon Solar Team (Netherland) and Quantum of University of Michigan (USA), at the Victoria Square of Adelaide, Australia. As Nuna 6 was seen coming down King William St., gradually approaching Victoria Square, the crowd no longer contains themselves and started banging on the plastic advertising bulletins…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdNZei5kJmwfor they knew that Nuna 6 and Quantum had already arrived at the official finish line, Angle Vale, the day before at 2:12 P.M. and 3:55 P.M., respectively, but decided to reach for the ceremonial finish line, Victoria Square, today (Oct. 21, 2011).
As Nuna 6 lands on the equivalent of its red carpet, but dark grey in this case, reporting crews and the crowd swarms toward this marvelous solar vehicle of reliability and efficiency. Every step of its progression reflects its vision of teamwork, from its supporting members carrying and laying down the flag of Netherland on the hood of this winning car, to the hugs and handshakes fellow team members giving to one another. Then came the Champaign and Ritual Dip in the Victoria Fountain. One gesture was out of the ordinary: that the Nuna 6 and Tokai Challenger 2 members started to exchange their shirts in the Victoria Fountain, symbolizing either that “we’re in this together” or “we’re all winners”. So in some of the video and photos one would find Nuon Solar Team members wearing Tokai’s blue and Tokai Challenger 2 Team members wearing Nuna’s orange.
Resistance is Futile...might as well have fun....
One of Nuon Team members may have resisted
Nuon & Tokai members in the Victoria Fountain, Adelaide, Australia
Nuon & Tokai members in each others' shirts in Victoria Fountain, Adelaide, Australia
Nuna 6 of Nuon Solar Team of World Solar Challenge 2011
Nuon (2nd Winning team of WSC 2011) arriving at Victoria Square of Adelaide, Australia
One thing to be certain, they were all having a great deal of fun, as evidenced in these photos. I also have uploaded an interview with one of the Nuna 6 team members/drivers above.
For a better understanding of the landscape of this beautiful country, Australia, we’re visiting, some help is obtained from Wikipedia, below:
King William Street passes through the square making a diamond shape with the southbound carriageway passing through the east side, and the northbound carriageway passing through the west side of the square. The square is bisected by a piece of road (technically part of the square) that connects Wakefield Street(entering from the east) with Grote Street (to the west). A tram stop (formerly the terminus) for the Glenelg Tram is in the southern part of the square; it was shifted from the center to the western edge of the square on 6 August 2007, as part of the extension that was made to the tram line around that time.
written and posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker, sunisthefuture@gmail.com
