About The House
Our house is a tiny passive solar house having dimensions of 25' by 24' giving it a total area of 600 square feet. We designed this house to try to minimize the amount of electricity used. We were able to save energy by placing windows in certain points to allow a lot of light in during the day. We were even going to put solar panels on the roof facing the south so that we could get even more energy from the sun.
Inside the house, the roof's lowest point is around 9' and its highest around 15'. We had a clear story window between two half's of the roof to allow a lot of light inside. This window faced the western side so during the afternoon, it would let a lot of light in. We also had a glass wall on the south side so it can let light in during the entire day. We even had two windows going into the bathroom facing the east so light could come in during the morning.
Inside the house, the roof's lowest point is around 9' and its highest around 15'. We had a clear story window between two half's of the roof to allow a lot of light inside. This window faced the western side so during the afternoon, it would let a lot of light in. We also had a glass wall on the south side so it can let light in during the entire day. We even had two windows going into the bathroom facing the east so light could come in during the morning.
Solar Powered Water Heater
Our water heater was made so that water would get heated up in a copper wire by a bunch of mirrors redirecting the sun towards it. We also had a plastic tube so that we could transfer the water into the copper one. The mirrors on the bottom were placed at about a 15 degree angle and a 75 degree angle. We then took a protractor and measured around 30 degrees since that is wear the sun is in our sky during the winter. When we looked at our water heater, we could see part of the pipe in all of the mirrors meaning that when the sun hit it, it would hit the copper allowing the water to heat up. At the end, our water heater wasn't able to hold a lot of water since we could not find a stable plug to hold in the water. We ended up with around 5 milliliters and got it heated up to 502 J. For the amount of heat to the mass of the water, it did not get very warm. |
Model House
This model was made so that we could test the different ways light worked. We tested solar tubes, light shelves, the color of walls, glass walls and even skylights. Our house also had a courtyard which allowed for more places to put a window. Overall, the glass wall in the courtyard and the glass wall in the front with the light shelf worked the best. This is probably due to its size but positioning also played a key factor in making them work the way they did. |
Reflection
Overall, this project was by far the hardest we have done this year. Not only did it take longer to do, but it took more effort time, and team cooperation to get it done. Our team was able to do this very well and we were able to identify problems fast and fix them. We also came in during lunch a few times to make sure that we were doing everything right. This let us work really well together and gave us a better sense of how each other worked. For example we quickly realized that Luis could design the best on the computer whereas my strength was with blueprint designs. Also, my computer designing skills improved after watching and understanding Luis model the house on sketchup.
The one downside we did have though is that we were never able to get a pricing for the windows of our house. This could have added a few thousand more to our budget. Another thing we could have tried to improve on is to divide the work a little more evenly so that everyone is contributing equally. This led to some people doing more work than others even if it wasn't intentional. In the end when this project was all said and done, my group and I felt really good and confident in what we made.
The one downside we did have though is that we were never able to get a pricing for the windows of our house. This could have added a few thousand more to our budget. Another thing we could have tried to improve on is to divide the work a little more evenly so that everyone is contributing equally. This led to some people doing more work than others even if it wasn't intentional. In the end when this project was all said and done, my group and I felt really good and confident in what we made.