Living Energy Lab Partnership
Project partner: Living Energy Lab at Queen's
Project Description
The Living Energy Lab project is a new design project within the Engineering Society at Queen's University. This initiative will take two similar student rental houses and transform them into permanent living laboratories. These laboratories will then be used to evaluate the efficiency and impact of various energy conservation retrofits and renewable energy systems and technologies. Through coursework at the university and through public education, this project will demonstrate the economic and environmental benefit of investing in the retrofitting of older homes, whether it is a small investment or a large one.
This past year, module 3 students worked on several concepts within the Living Energy Lab. A project on passive energy saving methods revealed that hundreds of dollars in net savings can be obtained by switching to energy efficient light bulbs, using low flow shower heads, washing clothes in cold water and turning down the hot water heater. Other projects looked to determine the feasibility of residential solar panels, the practicality of wind turbines and the loss of heat transfer through plastic coatings on windows.
Students working on the feasibility of solar panels set up a model to simulate the conditions of a house in the Kingston area. The model is shown to the left.
Photo credit: APSC100 Team 108A, Winter 2007.
Other students tested various locations, as demonstrated below, for solar panels on the roof, to determine which set up would provide the most power.
Another team designed and built a prototype for a wind funnel to test the practicality of its use in a residential setting. The design is shown below.
Jane Brennan, the Living Energy Lab Project Coordinator was very pleased with the outcome of the projects: "The students provided us with useful information for ongoing research and design projects. I was really impressed with the quality of work that the students put forward. Despite having little engineering experience, they brought forward solid data and testing methods."
