Engineers for a Sustainable World

Up for discussion. Who’d be interested in having t-shirts for their project? Both projects are great publicity for ESW since we’ll be running around campus or college hall collecting data. Might be nice to have a way to recognize all of you hard workers

Hi all,

Thank you all for attending the first introductory meeting or for sending me an email expressing your continued interest in ESW. We will be having a second meeting on Sunday, September 27  at 3:30pm in Campus Center 102. We decided on a Sunday meeting to make sure that as many of you can make it as possible. In the future, once we have a better sense of everyone’s schedule, we will avoid meeting on the weekends as far as possible.

In the coming meeting, we will discuss the projects further and finalize project groups. We will also be electing 4 Project Managers and a Special Events Coordinator. If any of you are interested in any of the positions, do make sure you attend the next meeting.

I hope that all of you will be able to make it for this meeting as it will be an important meeting for us to get organized for the rest of the academic year. If you know anyone else who are interested in joining us, to invite them to our meeting.

Do send me an email if you are unable to make it for the meeting or have any questions. I am looking forward to seeing all of you again!

Chin Yen

Hello Smith students!

For those of you who made it to the Smith College Org Fair, thank you for visiting our table and listening to us talk about our exciting new projects. Please go to the Current Projects page to read the descriptions of the potential projects for this school year (go to the top of the blog and select ‘Projects’).

We look forward to seeing all of you Monday, September 14th at 5:30 at the CC. You’ll be receiving an e-mail with more details about the meeting and a follow-up e-mail with notes.

Thanks!

1. The first Dems meeting is the 14th at 7. Maybe a 5:30-7 pizza party that day?

2. I think we should talk at the meeting on Tuesday about picking just one or two things to present to people at the Org fair and party. Otherwise we could seem overwhelming/disorganized. Then, if no one likes what we picked, we have some fallbacks, but life is more under control.

3. I can’t wait to get to finally meet all of you!

See you soon!

Think we should give this a shot?

http://www.smith.edu/newsoffice/releases/NewsOffice09-042.html

OK, promise to stop making so many posts.

Hey everyone,

I’ve been e-mailing with Dano lately and he said this in my last e-mail…

“President Christ is going to ask students to conduct an
energy audit of College Hall during her convocation speech. This could
be ESW if you are interested.”

We have another potential project! Oh boy!

Hi everyone,

Here are some things we need to decide on right now..

1. Pre org-fair meeting: We should meet sometime before friday of the first week of school so we can do some planning for the org fair. How about Tuesday dinner?

2. A good time for the first meeting: How about Monday (9/14) dinner if we are planning to get food, or after dinner if we are not getting food?

Please, leave a comment on your response to both.

Chin Yen

Hi all,

I have registered us for the Org Fair. It will be happening on September 12th between 12 noon – 3 pm. Any of you available to man the booth? I will be available the whole time, but I will definitely like some company! Also, we should meet briefly sometime before that Saturday to discuss a bit.

I am thinking of deciding on a time and date for our introductory meeting so that I can book a nice venue (they get booked up really quickly). I think we should have it as soon after the org fair as possible so that we can grab people before they commit to anything else. Any reason why we shouldn’t have it so soon?

I think we should have the introductory meeting the week after that. What day will be good for everyone? I am thinking Mon/Tues/Wed/Thursday night might be good. If we decide on a time we can advertise it during org fair itself…

Enjoy the rest of summer!

Chin Yen

p.s Katie: Lindsay is interested in the beacon project

Wanted you to be aware of another possible ESW project which came up recently. Melissa, the owner of the Elbow Room (coffee shop on Green St), has been begging for quite some time to get students involved in helping her treat her exhaust from the bean roasting process. She has been working hard to reduce the environmental impact of the acquisition, transport, roasting and drinking of the coffee many of us enjoy. That said, there are not many products (especially that are affordable), for adequately reducing the particulate concentration of the roasting exhaust…let alone in a manner which doesn’t itself increase impact. She has acquired a catalytic converter (which is an interesting direction to take this) but is struggling to put the system together. This would be a fantastic project for ESW in that a solution could be transferable to many locations across the country (and the world). The group could take this in either a low tech or high tech direction depending upon everyone’s interests. I envision a design/build project and we can work on obtaining funds to support the construction of the design the group creates. Let me know if you’re interested.

-DM-

Rosalie’s response:
Possibly delicious as well…

In all seriousness though, do we have any interest/experience/knowledge in dealing with particulate matter? I know we”ve run across problems before in taking on something we know nothing about, so I’m just wondering how much entry level knowledge we have. That said, I’m with Chin on challenging yet really interesting.

Also, given that the proposals are so different (circuits v. exhaust v. whatever dano says) I wonder if we could choose two to follow up on until the first general meeting, when the whole group decides on one. Let me know if I’m being nuts, but I think different projects might attrct different crowds….

Rosalie

Hi all,

I’m delighted to hear that everyone is planning ahead for the upcoming academic year. The struggle between on campus vs off campus activities is always a difficult challenge. As usual, there are several opportunities for on campus work that could be conducted and Dano Weisbord has an ever growing list of projects. Most recently, we’ve discussed:

1) designing integrated circuits for energy “beacons” to be installed in buildings on campus. These beacons are simply low power lights that change colors in relation to building power consumption. The intent is to provide instantaneous power consumption feedback to building occupants. This project would involve circuit design, analysis of where best to locate this beacon for educational purposes, and then actual installation. Dano has already purchased the beacons and would like someone to figure out how to design the system (which will not be difficult). This is a great semester long project and will have a huge impact on campus in educating people about energy consumption (i.e. this is not a tech fix project)…and will receive some press undoubtedly.

2) completing a solar energy availability study for the campus. This is a VERY important piece of the Climate Action Plan we are currently drafting for the college. While we know how much solar radiation is available on a horizontal surface on campus, the actual solar availability depends on site specific shading and the pitch of the rooftops of individual structures on campus. This project would involve walking the campus and completing shading assessments of each building. Our goal with this project is to determine the fraction of the campus rooftops that could incorporate passive solar thermal hot water systems with a specific payback period. In my 390 course, Chin Yen and Katie (if I have successfully coaxed you into taking the course) will learn how to complete these studies in the first few weeks of the course. This is a big project and can be easily broken down into discrete chunks. If there are students interested in economics, we could add a component assessing payback periods, federal and state incentives and fuel escalation rates.

Note, following the discussion regarding sustainability and renewable energy, this second project could be coupled with a performance assessment of the existing hot water systems and design recommendations for performance improvements that should be made irrespective of converting the heating mechanisms (from natural gas and oil to solar). 

All of this aside, I’m personally very interested in the group considering a design-build project on campus. There are numerous opportunities to have the group work on a project that tackles the sustainability and appropriate technology issue more directly. I would love to see us select a house on campus as a test bed for appropriate technology applications (I’m intentionally avoiding the word sustainable here). Each year, students could use this test bed for designing and testing out their crazy ideas. If a group of students is interested in designing and building a constructed wetland for greywater treatment, or vermiculture, or a root cellar, …we would have a place for that. If this is interesting to the group, please let me know. I need student momentum to push this forward.

When everyone returns to campus and the group is ready to meet, please let me know. Professor Riley will be on sabbatical this year, so I will be your main contact for guidance. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Have safe travels.

-DM-