Congratulations!! 2011 National Finalists

Everyone,

Shanna did a wonderful job representing Team 8.

I am very proud to announce that we placed Third in the 5th Annual 2011 National Design Competition.

Congratulations to the Frederick Maryland Team and Mountain View Team from the San Francisco Affiliate.

You should all very proud of all your work and dedication.

Congratulations also go out to Nataly and Jessica for winning two coveted ACE Scholarships!

Go Team 8!

Congratulations! 2011 CIRT Finalists

Congratulations ACE Team 8!

CIRT Executive Director Mark Casso has notified me that AQUILA VILLA has been selected as a 2011 Design Competition Finalist.

Our next ACE Team 8 meeting

is scheduled for this coming

Monday, March 28th at WSP Flack & Kurtz.

This is a meeting you do not want to miss.

The mentors will be selecting the ACE Team 8 Student Representative who will present Aquila Villa to the CIRT Jury in Washington DC on Tuesday, May 3rd.

Every Team 8 member will be interviewed for a chance to represent TEAM 8 in Washington DC.

So please come prepared to discuss the project.

Once again congratulations everyone! Your hard work has paid off. You should all be very proud of the commitment that you all showed to the project and to one another.

Go TEAM 8!

Are we meeting today?

2011 CIRT COMPETITION BOARDS

This post is to confirm that your Team 8 competition submission is being shipped via the US Postal Service and is guaranteed to arrive in Washington DC by 12:00 pm tomorrorw March 15th.

Congratulations everyone! You should all be very proud.

Heating & Cooling Systems

Cooling Systems (Ways to Save Energy)
A combination of proper insulation, energy-efficient windows and doors, day lighting, shading, and ventilation will usually keep homes cool with a low amount of energy use in all but the hottest climates. Although ventilation should be avoided in hot, humid climates, the other approaches can significantly reduce the need to use air conditioning. Whether relying on natural ventilation or forcing air through your home with fans, ventilation is the most energy-efficient way to cool your house. For homes in dry climates, evaporative cooling or "swamp cooling" provides an experience like air conditioning, but with much lower energy use. Absorption coolers use heat rather than electricity as their energy source, and are now available for large homes. Radiant cooling can be appropriate in arid climates, but is problematic elsewhere. Earth cooling tubes have been installed in a few hundred homes, but the technology is not effective.

Heating Systems

Active Solar Heating

There are two basic types of active solar heating systems based on the type of fluid—either liquid or air—that is heated in the solar energy collectors. (The collector is the device in which a fluid is heated by the sun.) Liquid-based systems heat water or an antifreeze solution in a "hydronic" collector, whereas air-based systems heat air in an "air collector."

Active solar heating systems are most cost-effective when they are used for most of the year, that is, in cold climates with good solar resources. They are most economical if they are displacing more expensive heating fuels, such as electricity, propane, and oil heat. Some states offer sales tax exemptions, income tax credits or deductions, and property tax exemptions or deductions for solar energy systems.

The cost of an active solar heating system will vary. Commercial systems range from $30 to $80 per square foot of collector area, installed. Usually, the larger the system, the less it costs per unit of collector area. Commercially available collectors come with warranties of 10 years or more, and should easily last decades longer. The economics of an active space heating system improve if it also heats domestic water, because an otherwise idle collector can heat water in the summer.

Heating your home with an active solar energy system can significantly reduce your fuel bills in the winter. A solar heating system will also reduce the amount of air pollution and greenhouse gases that result from your use of fossil fuels such as oil, propane, and natural gas for heating or that may be used to generate the electricity that you use.

Portable Heaters

Less efficient than central heating systems, but can save energy when used appropriately.

Small space heaters are typically used when the main heating system is inadequate or when central heating is too costly to install or operate. In some cases, small space heaters can be less expensive to use if you only want to heat one room or supplement inadequate heating in one room. They can also boost the temperature of rooms used by individuals who are sensitive to cold, especially elderly persons, without overheating your entire home.

Although most space heaters rely on convection (the circulation of air in a room) to heat a room, some rely on radiant heating; that is, they emit infrared radiation that directly heats up objects and people that are within their line of sight. Radiant heaters are a more efficient choice when you will be in a room for only a few hours, if you can remain within the line of sight of the heater. They can be more efficient when using a room for a short period because they avoid the energy needed to heat the entire room by instead directly heating the occupant of the room and the occupant's immediate surroundings.

The Parts of Wind Turbines

Anemometer:

Measures the wind speed and transmits wind speed data to the controller.

Blades:

Most turbines have either two or three blades. Wind blowing over the blades causes the blades to "lift" and rotate.

Brake:

A disc brake, which can be applied mechanically, electrically, or hydraulically to stop the rotor in emergencies.

Controller:

The controller starts up the machine at wind speeds of about 8 to 16 miles per hour (mph) and shuts off the machine at about 55 mph. Turbines do not operate at wind speeds above about 55 mph because they might be damaged by the high winds.

Gear box:

Gears connect the low-speed shaft to the high-speed shaft and increase the rotational speeds from about 30 to 60 rotations per minute (rpm) to about 1000 to 1800 rpm, the rotational speed required by most generators to produce electricity. The gear box is a costly (and heavy) part of the wind turbine and engineers are exploring "direct-drive" generators that operate at lower rotational speeds and don't need gear boxes.

Generator:

Usually an off-the-shelf induction generator that produces 60-cycle AC electricity.

High-speed shaft:

Drives the generator.

Low-speed shaft:

The rotor turns the low-speed shaft at about 30 to 60 rotations per minute.

Nacelle:

The nacelle sits atop the tower and contains the gear box, low- and high-speed shafts, generator, controller, and brake. Some nacelles are large enough for a helicopter to land on.

Pitch:

Blades are turned, or pitched, out of the wind to control the rotor speed and keep the rotor from turning in winds that are too high or too low to produce electricity.

Rotor:

The blades and the hub together are called the rotor.

Tower:

Towers are made from tubular steel (shown here), concrete, or steel lattice. Because wind speed increases with height, taller towers enable turbines to capture more energy and generate more electricity.

Wind direction:

This is an "upwind" turbine, so-called because it operates facing into the wind. Other turbines are designed to run "downwind," facing away from the wind.

Wind vane:

Measures wind direction and communicates with the yaw drive to orient the turbine properly with respect to the wind.

Yaw drive:

Upwind turbines face into the wind; the yaw drive is used to keep the rotor facing into the wind as the wind direction changes. Downwind turbines don't require a yaw drive, the wind blows the rotor downwind.

Yaw motor:

Powers the yaw drive.