Solar Ship

Named Tûranor PlanetSolar, which means power of the sun in J.R.R Tolkien mythology, this unique vessel is powered and propelled exclusively by solar energy!

 

The length of the boat is 31 m 

The width is 15 m

 

The height is 6.30 m

Draft 1.55 m

Average speed 5 knots

Installed solar power 93.5 kW 
Average engine consumption 20 kW

 

Surface area of PV modules 516 s.m.

Module efficiency 18.8%

PlanetSolar Deepwater is a scientific expedition by the University of Geneva on the route of the Gulf Stream

More amazing images: Planet Solar Gallery

http://www.planetsolar.org/

E-Infrastructure is a Global Trend

The Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech) in Moscow, Russian Federation and the National Association of Research and Educational e-Infrastructures (e-ARENA) announced the first steps in their partnership to improve national and international e-infrastructure.

On June 26, Skoltech President Edward Crawley and e-ARENA Director-General Marat Biktimirov signed a Letter of Intent to collaborate in establishing permanent high bandwidth networking between Skoltech and its national and international partners and collaborators.
Skoltech has recently launched its Center for Stem Cell Research that includes a close long-term partnership with academic partners in the Netherlands, Russia and the USA. Researchers at the Center will rely on state-of-the-art e-infrastructure to advance research programs in the application of new genomics technologies towards the realization of personalized medicine. Skoltech and its international collaborators will need access to an exponentially growing amount of genomic data. This data must then be stored, transferred and analyzed, demanding a high level of network speed between Skoltech and the rest of the world. The Institute also expects to launch at least 14 more CREIs each of which will include international and national collaborations target complex and data-rich scientific challenges.
Besides these research projects, Skoltech will develop opportunities for web-based classes and data-intensive collaborative experimentation and modeling similar to such educational initiatives as MITx and edX. All of these educational and research initiatives also benefit from increased network connection.

Skoltech has already launched a partnership with SURFnet to begin providing for the high-bandwidth needs for this first Center for Research, Education and Innovation (CREI). The new partnership with e-ARENA will extend networking options by leveraging Russian research and education networks RASNet, RUNNet and RBNet, as well as international connections to the pan-European GEANT network and the advanced science network GLORIAD.
Skoltech Acting CIO, Professor Gabrielle Allen, said of the new cooperation, “Robust, world-class cyberinfrastructure is absolutely essential for modern data-intensive science which today takes place in a global setting. As a new institute, we are delighted to be collaborating with e-ARENA and leveraging their long and deep experience in networking to provide Skoltech researchers and educations with necessary e-infrastructure.”

The Network of Performance Facilities proposed in the previous post: Lessons Learned - Part 3  is such example of the modern data-intensive scientific and research application. Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology through one of its Centres for Research and Innovation (CREI) could become potential international partner in the Consortium.

Old "New" Challenge for performance buildings, or Lessons Learned - Part 3

Monitoring data in Performance Building proves to be a challenge for a reason, which may seem unexpected. There is no clear understanding on what data to collect, at which points, how often to take the measurements and for how long to store the data.
One approach is a "bulldozer" approach - take as many data as possible, at as many locations as possible and as frequent as possible. From the first glance this seems to be a bullet proof method - you will never miss anything. In fact, the opposite is true. The amount of data collected quickly becomes overwhelming and unmanageable, and apart from the difficulty of retrieving necessary piece of information, it presents another unexpected challenge. The value of storing the data is in ability to keep track of historical records, because only a relatively long period of time can be representative for the actual performance of any complex system, performance building included. Now, an attempt to estimate what would it take to create a data storage for one such building, utilizing the "bulldozer" approach described above, hits an obstacle - the data warehouse for keeping track of ALL data will cost over $400,000 !!  No wonder, it is decided, or rather occurs automatically, that the wast amount of accumulated data is discarded after a relatively short period of time to let the room for the new batch of data. But what about the analysis?
What if we need the data for more than one month, and typically we want to monitor performance for at least a year? How can we even be assured that what we need is there, when what is collected spills over?
Following up on and consistent with what I have discussed previously (see e.g. Lessons Learned - Part 2)  there is a need in the agreed upon hierarchy of the data sets, common format of data being collected, stored and retrieved. With the time it may and probably will evolve into the industry standard. But the work needs to be started, or we are going to face the hurdle not unlike or even worse than the Tower of Babylon - not only being unable to speak one language, but not even understand ourselves... 

In order to be able to communicate we need to speak one language.

Performance Home designs presented at the Council

From October 2012 through April 2013 Ascent Systems Technologies in cooperation with Architecture and Technology Department of Thompson Rivers University conducted a students’ contest for the best design of the performance home for Sun Peaks Resort. 20 actual vacant Sun Peaks lots were chosen by the students. The competition was completed in April when Ascent Systems Technologies presented a cash prize for the best performance home design, while Sun Peaks Corporation supported the initiative by donating two ski passes to the author of the design which was the best accommodating the resort guidelines. Some of the best designs were presented at the Sun Peaks Municipal Council meeting at on June 24, 2013. The purpose was to show to the Council and to the residents the home built at Sun Peaks Resort can be energy-efficient, environmentally friendly and at the same time seamlessly integrated in the overall look of the resort. The presentation was received with great interest. 

Performance homes, together with other efforts undertaken by the Sun Peaks Municipality, will form part of the Sustainable Community concept at the Resort.   

Green Home designs for local landscapes

From green buildings - to Green Planet

Amazing video from NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory

It is so realistic - you almost want to touch it, but also want to be careful not to damage this fragile globe!

CaGBC Conference: Lessons Learned - Part 2

Another very important lesson, which confirmed what I have been becoming increasingly convinced in from my own experience - THERE IS PRACTICALLY NO PERFORMANCE MONITORING after the building or system has been commissioned. All kind of reasons can be put forward for that - from lack of time, resources to confidentiality considerations. However, sustainable technology and "green" industry can not evolve or even properly function without a feedback loop ! Lack of consistent real-life data is a major factor slowing down progress of the industry.

Here is what I propose should be done. A network of performance (a.k.a. "green" or "sustainable") buildings and facilities should be created. They should be connected via centralized online data and performance optimization repository in a "smart info-grid" of a sort. The data obtained from each node (facility-member) should be presented in (or translated into) the universal consistent format and made available for other facility-members for comparison, benchmarking and cross-reference.

One of the good examples of guidelines for implementing the intelligent network infrastructure is Unified Access Network Design based on the CISCO concept of Borderless Campus Architecture.

University and college facilities, such as CIRS at UBC in Vancouver and Centre of Excellence at Okanagan College in Penticton, BC must collaborate with the industry on creating such a network and become first nodes of such network. The network should utilize Systems Architecture principles of  expandabikity (i.e. allow adding new nodes), and evolvability (i.e. allow seamlessly adding new functionality). This can become a major factor in propelling the sustainable (high-performance, "green", alternative) technology and buildings industry, which is currently threading the water.

CaGBC Conference: Lessons Learned - Part 1

Back from the Canadian Green Building Council Conference in Vancouver.

From the large number of presentations, speeches and exhibits one conclusion jumps out:
everyone and everything is focused on commercial buildings - business office, hotel etc. 
NO ONE IS LOOKING AT THE SMALL RESIDENTIAL SECTOR  as if doesn't exist !

Of course, it is much easier to get noticed with a "green" high-rise tower in the downtown of a big urban centre than with a performance home in a rural community. But should we forget not - more than 90% of Canadian territory is not cities. Even if the majority of Canadian population is concentrated in the cities, it is not where our food, oil, gas, gold, lumber and other resources come from. Canadian economy heavily relies on the natural resources industry. Shouldn't we pay special attention to efficiency and sustainability of homes for people living there?

Perhaps not everyone knows, but tourism is a second largest contributor into Canadian economy. It should not be too surprising however, taking into account that Canada is the world's second largest country by territory with a vast geographical diversity, number of resorts and national parks. The importance of this sector is even growing with increasing popularity of heli-tourism, eco-tourism etc.   

Hence the niche of a single-family or small-to-medium size multifamily residential market with the smaller non-residential facilities like local schools, heath care centres, sport facilities etc, seems to be undeservedly abandoned.

The Performance Model Home concept attempts to address this deficiency.
Attractive architectural design, high-level of thermal efficiency, air-tightness, passive components like natural day lighting, combined with the efficient, cost-effective and non-polluting technology managed by a simple, reliable and user-friendly control system are all necessary elements of such a model. Add the maintainability, ability to service and upgrade or add system components (for example, with the new technologies as they become available), capability to continuously monitor and optimize performance - and you will have a perfect case for a System Architecture.     

At the core of the technology package are three components: optimized solar thermal system, supplemented by thermal booster and supported by a high-efficiency thermal storage.
The entire package is configured using ASPA program, allowing to choose the most efficient combination of the components. These components together with sensors and energy meters included in the feedback loop and integrated with performance home management system, at any time providing the maximum comfort for inhabitants of the home and the most efficient use of the equipment.