The green approach: Self-powered house design concept for undergraduate research

This paper discusses innovative ways of using power through everyday activities at home. A green approach uses ambient energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal and active/passive human power to generate electricity to power home appliances, air conditioning system, and light bulbs. The concept of a self-powered house is to use energyefficient methods to explore ways to convert environmental sustainable energy sources into electrical energy. Sources of ambient (environmental) energy are determined prior to the design of the house in order to construct a house of maximum efficiency from ambient energy sources. Research has been conducted at several universities to make this futuristic approach for solving energy problems in the 21 century. The purpose of this research was to study a house of the future intended to be an off-grid self-sufficient, energyefficient, and ambient-energy powered that would generate enough energy to power the appliances. This paper explains the first phase of the project which was to identify ambient energy sources and group them into specific categories such as thermoelectric, mechanical/vibrations, hydroelectric, magnetic field, airflow, acoustic noise, wind, solar/light, and geothermal. The identified ambient energy sources are characterized as high, medium, and low power sources and will also be discussed in this paper. INTRODUCTION As a result of greenhouse effects and the global energy crisis, discovering sources of clean, renewable energy and developing daily life applications have become critical tasks. The intent of this study is the development of a self-sufficient house emphasizing the use of modern green energy technology to decrease environmental load, accomplish energy self-sufficiency and use energy wisely in order to build a sustainable, comfortable living atmosphere. Sam Houston State University’s Industrial Technology program is creating an undergraduate research program and related classes to provide students with the ability to compete in industry. Therefore, faculty must engage their students in research, especially research dealing with applied technology. There are several institutions such as the University of Virginia (UVA Solar House, 2002), Stanford University (Global Climate & Energy Project, 2008), the University of Minnesota Morris (A Green Campus, 2000), Cornell University (Renewable Energy Systems, 2009), the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (The Renewable Energy Initiative, 2009), are examples of among many institutions that are involved in undergraduate renewable energy research activities. According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), renewable energy consumption was 6.260 quadrillion BTUs in 2004 and was increased to 7.301 quadrillion BTUs by 2008 in the U.S. (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2008). In 2008, the electricity generation and flow of renewable energy was 3.88 quadrillion BTUs among all other conventional electricity generation resources. There was a considerable increase of renewable energy sources between 1949 and 2008 according to the Department of Energy statistics. The total amount of renewable energy was increased from 2974 M r. Ke i t h L . Coogler is an instructor of industrial technology at Sam Houston State University. He holds a M.A. in Industrial Education and is pursuing an Ed.D. in Higher Education from Texas A&M University – Commerce. His primary teaching area is Construction Management. Research interests include: automation, alternative energy, and “green” construction. Dr. Dominick E. Fazarro is an Associate Professor of Industrial Technology at the Depar tment of Human Resource D e v e l o p m e n t and Technology at University of Texas at Tyler. His research interest involves nanotechnology education, nanotechnology workforce education, development, and evaluation and assessment. Dr. Fazarro is a strong advocate for the development of nanotechnology programs at four-year universities to build the nanotechnology workforce. He teaches courses in industrial management, research methods, and risk management. He is an ATMAE Senior Certified Technology Manager and a current member of the ATMAE Executive Board. Dr. Faruk Yildiz is an Assistant Professor of Industrial Technology at Sam Houston S ta te Un iver sity, Hunts ville, TX. He earned his B.S. in Computer Science in 2000 from Taraz State University, Kazakhstan, an MS in Com puter Science in 2005 from City College of The City Uni versity of New York, and his Doctorate in Industrial Technology in 2008 from the University of Northern Iowa. Dr. Yildiz is currently teaching electronics, energy-har vesting systems from alternative energy sources, and computer-aided drafting and design-related classes at Sam Houston State University. His research interest fall into two broad categories: energy harvesting, conversion, and storage sys tems for alternative energy sources and alternative energy education of K-12 students and teachers focused on promoting alternative energy education as part of STEM education.