Addressing Climate Change With Holistic Living Models – One Community Weekly Progress Update #420

This week the core team continued edits on the Earthbag Village Footer, Foundation and Flooring development Doc. This week’s focus was verifying calculations, making general edits, finalizing research of past contributions, wrapping up the video & resource reviews, etc. through page 47. We think this is most likely the next-to-the-last review of this doc. See pictures below for some screenshots related to this.

Continued Edits on the Earthbag Village Footer, Foundation and Flooring Development Doc. – Click for Earthbag Village

The core team also began what we hope will be the 2nd-to-final check of the Murphy bed instructions. We checked “Material Components”, “Material Boards”, “Material Lumber”, “Tools”, “Pre-made Components”, and started checking “Wall” sections. We also created a list of comments and suggestions to improve readability of the instructions. The screenshots below show some of this work.

Began Near Final Review of the Murphy Bed Instructions – Click for Earthbag Village Furniture Page

Dean Scholz (Architectural Designer) continued helping with the Earthbag Village (Pod 1) 4-dome cluster designs. This week was week #218 of Dean’s work and the focus was more creating and testing the Murphy Bed furniture textures and texture combinations. Pictures of some of this work are below.

Created and Tested the Murphy Bed Furniture Textures and Texture Combinations – Click for Earthbag Village

Jose Luis Flores (Mechanical Engineer) completed his 37th week helping finish the Net-zero Bathroom component of the Earthbag Village. This week Jose Luis completed the heating elements effectiveness calculations. The calculations were done in order to quantitatively determine how many heating elements should be used depending on the climate. The calculations determined how long the water or rain water storage room would take to reach freezing temperatures. Knowing the time was crucial to maximize the efficiency and cost effectiveness of the type and quantity of heating elements necessary to keep the room and rainwater at above freezing temperatures. The section added covered the heat loss associated with the structure such as the walls and the roof and the heat loss of the water stored in the top center barrel. The findings help determine where to install the heating elements to further maximize their effectiveness. Illustrations were added to the section to help visualize the placement of the heating elements. Jose Luis then began updating the roof plan to coincide with the latest additions to the SolidWorks rendering such as drip edge flash on the edge of the exterior roof panels. He also began rearranging the AutoCAD models to follow the order of the Net-Zero Bathroom tutorial/instructions. The pictures below show some of this work.

Completed the Heating Elements Effectiveness Calculations – Click for Net-zero Bathroom

Mark Wambua (Civil Engineer) completed his 13th and final week working on the Parking Lot and Sustainable Roadways, Walkways, and Landscaping guides. This week Mark’s work was primarily focused on making written revisions to the Roadway Design and Roadway Drainage tutorials. Pictures below show some of this work-in-progress.

Focused on Making Written Revisions to the Roadway Design and Roadway Drainage Tutorials – Click for Page

Vicente J Subiela (Project Management Adviser) completed his 12th week working on the solar microgrid design, sizing, and cost analysis specifics. This week Vicente added new tabs to the sizing tool: a specific one for the Earthbag Village energy demand and another for the feasibility analysis and economic balance vision on the long term. This tool allows having a vision of the evolution of the annual energy & economic balances, and how the economic rates affect the net balance. Vicente also continued the follow-up of the collaboration team. He has repeated the simulations with SAM to find the best match with the outcome from a potential PV supplier. Pictures below are related to this work.

Continued Working on the Solar Microgrid Design, Sizing, and Cost Analysis Specifics – Click for Page

Aidan Geissler (Sustainability Researcher) completed his 9th week helping with 2nd-to-final review, feedback, and content editing. This week, Aidan’s work for the week was devoted to compiling information for the Insulation Comparison Spreadsheet. He researched and assigned point values to features pertaining to sustainability, safety, and effectiveness for various insulation products made with wool, straw, hemp, keraf, and magnesium oxide from seawater. In order to compare the costs of these products while taking into consideration differences in R-values, Aidan calculated the average price per square foot per R-rating for each product. The pictures below relate to this work.

Worked on Compiling Information for the Insulation Comparison Spreadsheet – Click for Insulation Page

Jeson Hu (Mechanical Engineer Assistant) completed his 6th week helping with research related to the solar microgrid design, sizing, and cost analysis specifics. This week, Jeson researched the best solar inverters and studied the related specs. He also finalized the best solar harvesting technology research. The answer to the best technology or company or product is not clear without the cost input, which he is struggling to find. Almost all the companies contacted did not have much interest in this 2MW project. However, Jeson provided their product specs and contact info for future reference. He also determined that, if One Community wants to have a battery bank, a battery based inverter would probably be the choice. The pictures below share some of this developing work.

Researched the Best Solar Inverters and Studied the Related Specs – Click for Solar Energy Page

Indiana Mann (Atmospheric Scientist) also completed her 5th and final week doing research for One Community. Her focus this week was finishing researching a new addition to the Most Sustainable Toilets tutorial. Pictures below show some of this work and content.

Researched a New Addition to the Most Sustainable Toilets Tutorial – Click for Page

Gabrielle Williams (Sustainability Researcher) completed her 4th week helping research natural greywater processing pond design for the Earthbag Village and Duplicable City Center. This week Gabrielle started taking notes on Wheaton’s Permaculture podcast titled “Wheaton Permaculture – 076 Create an Oasis With Greywater”. She also found a copy of the reference book online and began taking notes on that too. The pictures below relate to this research.

This week, Qiuheng Xu (Landscape Designer) completed her 27th week helping with the Duplicable City Center landscaping design. This week Qiuheng adjusted the road system access to the domes and the herb gardens, and replaced some of the plants with 3D options from the Lumion plant library. Pictures below show some of these changes.

Continued Helping With the Duplicable City Center Landscaping Design – Click for Page

Ksenia Akimov (Plumbing Engineer) completed her 27th week working on the Duplicable City Center plumbing designs. This week Ksenia focused on making changes to the plans according to Evan’s review and notes. She added floor traps in all bathrooms, put a sink in the boiler room, and changed pipelines in bathrooms 13, 15, and 16. Pictures below are related to this work.

Made Changes to the Duplicable City Center Plumbing Design Plans According to Evan’s Review – Click for Page

Ian Oliver Malinay(Energy Modeler/Analyst) completed his 15th week helping run the energy analysis calculations to help us achieve LEED Platinum status for the Duplicable City Center. This week Ian processed the target illuminance level per space zone. He checked all inputs are correct, considering also the ASHRAE standard. Ian also checked the lighting control from the electrical consultant and the mech vent per area requirements. He arranged the Lux Level according to space type/uses, processed the percent openability of each glazing on the dome, and changed the material of the dome entrance. Ian also finalized the heating and cooling load calculation of the project. Please see below progress photos for reference.

Processed the Target Illuminance Level Per Space Zone – Click for Duplicable City Center Heating and Cooling

David Na (Project Management Adviser/Engineer) completed his 9th week helping with input and management of the Parking Lot and Sustainable Roadways, Walkways, and Landscaping tutorial development, as well as the City Center Water Catchment Designs. David started the week holding a meeting with his team to assign action items. David was responsible for the review of Samson and Mark’s technical writing work as well as overseeing their CAD design work, which includes the new driveway, landing, basement door and garage roll-up door. David also put time into the grading calculation excel worksheet/template for his design team and future design teams to use for grading quantities. Lastly, he has also begun creating a tutorial/checks and balances sheet for the hydrology report he is preparing for the City Center. Pictures below are related to this work.

Worked on Parking Lot and Sustainable Roadways Tutorial, and City Center Water Catchment Designs – Click for Water Page

Sunitha Paraselli (Mechanical Design Engineer) completed her 6th week working on the Duplicable City Center connectors we’ll use to build the domes. This week Sunitha worked on the comparison of the small bracket and the big bracket (increasing the length). She also compared the bracket with less number of holes to a bracket which has more holes. The bracket which has more holes has more stress resistance. Then she ran the simulation for the safety factor; galvanized gauge steel has more factor of safety when compared to aluminum. The pictures below relate to this work.

Worked on the Comparison of the Small Bracket and the Big Bracket – Click for Duplicable City Center

Daniela Andrea Parada (Volunteer/Consultant Civil Engineering Student) completed her 2nd week helping with the Sustainable Roadways, Walkways, and Landscaping tutorial development. This week Daniela joined the weekly meeting with David’s team concerning the Earthbag Village project. For this team, she adjusted the widths of the streets to 20 feet and added an access road turnaround to one end of the site, this is all for fire truck access. She then updated this design and ensured that both the north and south ends of the site had proper access road turnarounds. She also continued last week’s work on the Aquapini/Walipini design documentation. Measurements were taken from AutoCAD designs and more information on the project was brought to light. Many descriptions were further detailed and a new table was created to clarify watering information. Pictures of some of this work are below.

Continued Helping With the Sustainable Roadways, Walkways, and Landscaping Tutorial Development – Click for Page

Minseok (Evan) Kim (Mechanical Engineer) completed his 3rd week leading the final design process for the City Center open source HVAC designs. This week, Evan reviewed and provided comments on the plumbing drawing. The plumbing design lacked detailed information in terms of piping system clarification, pipe size and piping route. Also, each dome will have their own hot water heater systems. This design approach will minimize piping work and cut down unnecessary hot water loops. Evan also completed his preliminary HVAC design markup for a designer to use as a reference. Pictures of some of this work are below.

Reviewed and Provided Comments on the Plumbing Drawing – Click for City Center Heating and Cooling Page

And long-term collaborator Bahy Ahmed (Architect) continued with his 3rd week helping with Duplicable City Center architectural details. Bahy’s focus this week was a roof proposal for the Living Dome. Pictures below relate to this work.

This week the core team returned to working on the open source Chickens tutorial, moving text from the research Google Doc to the One Community WordPress site and formatting it. We also found and added an infogram to better explain chicken combs terminology for farming beginners. Pictures below are related to this work.

Continued Working on the Open Source Chickens Tutorial – Click for Page

Henry Vennard (Mechanical Engineer) completed his 26th week helping continue the development of the climate batteries for the Aquapini/Walipini structures. Henry continued his work on digging into the HVAC handbooks in order to find relevant information relating to the climate battery design. Working with the existing recommendation for greenhouses and incorporating specific climate battery recommendations he put together a first draft of a climate battery design guide. Pictures below show some of this work-in-progress.

Continue the Development of the Climate Batteries for the Aquapini/walipini Structures – Click for Page

Comments are closed.