Creating a Global Shift – One Community Weekly Progress Update #433

This week the core team continued edits and additions to the “Best Small and Large-scale Plastic Recycling, Reuse, and Repurposing Community Options” article. This week we finished editing, backed up all the videos and webpages, created the missing reference section, verified our work was according to the “Webpage Review Checklist”, and submitted it to our final-check review team. The pictures below share some of this work.

Continued Edits and Additions to the Plastic Recycling Page – Click to Visit

The core team also completed a thorough review of the grid-tie connection report for our solar microgrid designs.

Completed Review of the Grid-tie Connection Report for Our Solar Microgrid Designs – Click for Solar Page

Jose Luis Flores (Mechanical Engineer) completed his 51st week helping finish the Net-zero Bathroom component of the Earthbag Village. This week Jose Luis updated the snow load calculations of the Net-Zero Bathroom exterior roof to include the correct weight distribution. He measured the total surface area the panels would rest on and the radial wall. Combining these values into a ratio led to the correct weight distribution of the radial wall that was used in the Free Body Diagram. The maximum snow depth increased to 21.7in which is still not sufficient. He began researching information on how snow behaved when collecting on a metal roof. The factors he discovered from the documents were roof pitch and change in temperature between the metal roof and the snow. He will start researching data on the temperature fluctuations in a specific location to determine whether the snow will form ice dams or just slide into the center of the roof. If the latter were to occur, then measures would have to be taken in order to slowly distribute the snow as not to collapse the interior roof. The pictures below show some of this work.

Updated the Snow Load Calculations of the Net-zero Bathroom Exterior Roof – Click for Page

Stacey Maillet (Graphic Designer) completed her 44th week working on the final edits and revisions to the Murphy bed instructions. This week Stacey continued working on updating lumber types and cutting lengths. She added new types of boards and revised how many pieces of each wood are needed. She also continued changing all measurements to follow the correct formula of thickness x width x length, making sure they are all consistent throughout all the pages. The components and lumber pages are getting more complete but also more complex and detailed. Stacey added a few new renders and images to the instructions too. Screenshots below are related to this latest progress.

Continued Working on Updating Lumber Types and Cutting Lengths – Click for Earthbag Village Page

Jeson Hu (Aerospace Engineer) completed his 18th week helping with research related to the solar microgrid design, sizing, and cost analysis specifics. This week, Jeson contacted RMP and Garkane engineers for the power rate and interconnection program information. From the information that Garkane’s engineer Bryant provided, the on-grid option would be too expensive since we would need to increase the size of the solar panel array by more than we’re willing. Jeson also followed up with Bryant regarding the previous interconnect offer that was being made for our final decision making. If the offer does not show too much of a rate change, Vicente recommends the off-grid option instead of increasing solar panel array size. Jeson also capitalized all the subtitles and centered them, and then addressed all the new comments on the best solar hardware research. Furthermore, he continued the research of the diesel generators, including finding products, inputting product specs, and saving product documents and web links. The pictures below share some of this developing work.

Continued Solar Microgrid Design, Sizing, and Cost Analysis Specifics Research – Click for Page

Daniela Andrea Parada (Civil Engineering Student) completed her 12th week helping with the Sustainable Roadways, Walkways, and Landscaping tutorial development. This week Daniela started off by editing the fire access road for the Earthbag Village. The road was edited, but because the majority of the fire access road must be within the main road, it caused some issues. The main road was expanded to fit the fire access road, but it exceeded the desired width of the main road. Various versions of the access road were attempted in order to decrease the main road width but none were successful. Daniela then worked on the easement access to the property. She worked with Google Earth and AutoCAD to import the property boundary. Once completed Daniela overlaid the boundary along with images onto an AutoCAD file containing the property contours. Five feet to both sides of the boundary were included for the easement and roadways were outlined. Pictures of some of this work are below.

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

Katherine Cao (Chemical Engineer) also completed her 7th week working on the grid-tie connection details for our solar microgrid designs. This week Katherine read and replied to the feedback from peers and her supervisor, and made corrections based on those comments. She also did more research on the cost for our specific project. Pictures below are related to this work.

Continued Working on the Grid-tie Connection Details for Our Solar Microgrid Designs – Click for Page

Nicholas K. de León (Project Management Adviser) completed his 5th week helping with review of Highest Good Housing research and related tasks. Nicholas continued with edits, working on new documents including the Grid-tie Tutorial. In addition to new edits, he went over older suggestions and cleared those that were satisfactory, suggesting others when necessary. Overall, Nicholas saw some improvements made to many of the documents, bringing them closer to the point of publication. Pictures below show some of this work-in-progress.

Continued Helping With Review of Highest Good Housing Research and Related Tasks – Click for Page

Frank Roland Vilcapaza Diaz (Mechanical Engineer) completed his 5th week helping with the Earthbag Village energy specifics. This week Frank worked on reading through “HVAC: Design Criteria, Options, Selection and Selection Tips for Air Conditioning Cooling Systems” to work on the selection of a system of AC for the Tropical Atrium as well as to get informed on the information on the Ultimate Classroom to work on the energy demand of that structure too. The pictures below relate to this.

Continued Helping With the Earthbag Village Energy Specifics – Click for Page

Shreyas Dayanand (Battery Research Engineer) also completed his 2nd week helping with the solar microgrid design specifics related to electric vehicles and battery sizing. This week Shreyas researched and accumulated data regarding 4 golf carts for commercial use and their related battery options, charging, etc. He also researched about the features and capabilities of the Ford F150 Lightning and how they can be implemented to be used in the community as possible backup power. He additionally came up with a DIY procedure to connect EVs to the grid to use them as an emergency power supply. Pictures below relate to this work-in-progress.

Continued Helping With Solar Microgrid Design Specifics Related to Electric Vehicles and Battery Sizing – Click for Page

Jarot Tamba (Civil Engineering Intern) joined the team and completed his 1st week helping with the Aircrete and earthbag compression testing. He attended a group meeting where he learned about the compression testing details the team will be working on. Jarot then spent the first part of the week developing his understanding about how to make aircrete, the uses of it, and comparing that information to similar uses with standard concrete and stabilized earth. The latter portion of the week was spent narrowing down a proposal of ratios and proportions for the material which would best suit the needs of the project. Many questions remain and research continues. Pictures below realted to this work.

Joined the Team and Began Helping With the Aircrete and Earthbag Compression Testing – Click for Aircrete Page

Dominick Banuelos (Civil Engineering Intern) joined the team and completed his 1st week helping with the Aircrete and earthbag compression testing. This week Dominick spent his time learning about aircrete which is something completely new to him. In the process of doing research, he has learned about what aircrete is and how it is made. Aircrete is a mixture of concrete and foam which comes from dish soap! In order to get the foam, the ratio which is applied to this is using around 2 cups of dish soap mixed with about 5 gallons of water. The foam itself comes from adding air pressure to the soap and water using a foam making machine and it will create the foam that is used in the concrete. The foam is usually created at a pressure between 60 and 80 psi. Something not mentioned is the soap that will be used for this project which is Seventh Generation dish soap. Dominick learned that Seventh Generation dish soap has the glycerin added to the dish soap which is a stabilizer in order to get the best foam possible. Many dish soaps do not have glycerin which is why they are not suitable for this project. Something to keep in mind is making sure that the foam weight stays around the same for the whole project as it can lead to issues with the concrete. Having little air in the foam will cause it to be lighter and having too much air will cause it to be heavier. Considering there is a specific weight that needs to be maintained, it is important to make sure the weight is consistent. Dominick also researched stabilized earth mixes and regular concrete mixes, and will continue with more research on those topics. Below are some images related to this work.

Joined the Team and Began Helping With Aircrete and Earthbag Compression Testing – Click for Earthbag Village Engineering Page

John Paul D. Matining (Civil Engineer Intern) joined the team and completed his 1st week helping with the Aircrete and earthbag compression testing. This week John educated himself in the art of aircrete. Using many references, he learned in depth the process and proper way for aircrete to be made. Over 15+ hours of watching and reading to gain decent knowledge of the aircrete and earthbag. He also tried thinking of concepts that could quicken or make the process more efficient. The pictures below relate to this work.

Joined the Team and Began Helping With the Aircrete and Earthbag Compression Testing – Click for Earthbag Village Engineering Page

Marcus Nguyen (Civil Engineering Intern) joined the team and completed his 1st week helping with the Aircrete and earthbag compression testing. This week Marcus had a meeting with his group to go over all the required instructions for being part of the Aircrete and Stabilized Earth Testing and documentation requirements. As of this week, he has completed seven out of eight “Actions” for the “General Onboarding Checklist”. Marcus and his group constructed a rough schedule for this summer project and provided their weekly hours to put into the system. For this first week, Marcus did his research on AirCrete, Earthbag, and other concrete materials to better understand the use and requirement for using it in a mix. This research will help towards making a plan on how to make each mix and determining how testing will be scheduled. The pictures below share some of this developing work.

Joined the Team and Began Helping With the Aircrete and Earthbag Compression Testing – Click for Aircrete Page