 Ralf Lippold Aug 29, 2017 02:29  | Hello Javed, |
 Aadhithya Sujith Sep 2, 2017 02:09 | Hi Javed, Your proposal is very interesting. I have read this last year too, I suggest you to take feedback that you have received last year from the Jury and community to refine the proposal even better. I see that your proposal covers most of the ways for energy conservation in buildings, some of the methods are already known and some are new innovative and less known, I encourage to categorize and focus on a few methods that have the maximum impact and research them in detail that have never been used before, in this way you might be able to unlock the hidden potential in some of the methods used for energy conservation. Thanks & regards Aadhithya |
 Javed Sultan Sep 7, 2017 01:35  | Proposal contributor Dear Raif and Aaadhitya: Thank you for your feedback and support means a lot to me and the critical feedback is essential to further development of new and related technologies: My first response is to Raif: 1. Dear Raif: Lesotho is seeing an explosion of use of solar pv's. Trained professionals are available in both Lesotho and neighboring South Africa. Very few components fail so the solar pv's are quiet hardy - and all the components are available locally. There are local technicians who can troubleshoot. Sisters of Charity have several buildings using for emergency power. The solar hot water heater, has been installed by a local vendor of solar hot water heaters. All the underground hydronic piping etc. was done by myself and is complicated - so unless I build more prototypes it may not be done correctly or as efficiently. These buildings have seen two freezing winters and the sister at charity have confirmed that they utilized almost no fossil fuel for heating. People from all over the country are coming to see the structure. I am very excited and I am hoping and praying that I can get some grant or support so I can start large scale introduction of the technology in remote villages and schools in Lesotho and elsewhere. Feel free to send me an email at sultanj@alum.mit.edu if I can answer additional questions. 2. Dear Addithya: Thank you for your feedback. Most of the comments from the last competition were positive however one of the judge's was skeptical about whether the cement utilized was less in our structure than a typical masonry. I get the feeling that I failed to convince him - as I did not get the judge's choice even though I had the highest judge's cumulative score. The fact is masonry blocks are easy to use but if they are not insulated - they get very hot in summer they re-radiate that heat during day and night requiring air conditioning or fans and in winter they rapidly loose heat - require heating of the enclosure. They are rarely insulated in poorer countries as insulation is extremely expensive. Also masonry blocks are designed for nominal 2000 psi compress. load, - cement is about 15% to 20% of the block - including a factor for mortar, and is designed for strength where they may experience maximum loads and to counter damage during handling, transportation, etc. In our walls we are leveraging the thermal mass of concrete to keep the home warmer in winter, the insulation prevents heat loss during winter and heat gain in summer. Our walls only require on the average some 500 psi compress. load - are made of lean concrete with about 7% cement in the concrete matrix. Half of the walls are recycled waste. Also our lighter structure requires reduced size of footing, reinforcement, and less cement and reinforcement in tie beams etc. This strategy becomes crucial for seismic design as it results in a lower mass inertia. I don't think I have managed to convince that particular judge and I am keeping my fingers crossed that I may fail to convince again - this time around as well. But I intend to respond more vigorously. Support for my proposal is crucial otherwise the grant community will not give me the funds to bring this type of technology to other poor countries of the world. Thank you again. Feel free to send me an email at sultanj@alum.mit.edu if I can answer additional questions. |
Javed Sultan Nov 5, 2017 01:32 | Proposal contributor For additional comments and clarification, in response to judge's semi-finalist feedback, see Evaluation tab. |
 Caroline Liu Nov 24, 2017 01:45  | Thank you for submitting your contest proposal. A Climate CoLab Impact Assessment Fellow who specializes in buildings has conducted an impact assessment of your proposal which you can find under the “IMPACT” tab. Please review the documentation and model parameters. If you have any questions or suggestions, you can contact Sharon Chou at cnorahs. Regards, Impact Assessment Fellows |
Javed Sultan Dec 15, 2017 12:11 | Proposal contributor Hi Sharon:i am little surprised that the CO2 reduction in India has been assessed as so little. Indian homes, including homes of almost all income groups - use fans and air conditioning to survive blistering hot summers. The fans and A/C are mostly electricity driven - in turn mostly generated by fossil fuels. We have water cooled systems that can be cooled by underground pipes cooled by earth ( in my diagram the water loop system A or B - a mere 10 feet to 15 feet below ground surface - as the temperature at that depth is between 50 and 60 F. No water is wasted, as water circulates in a closed loop system - with the cooled water ( underground) is pumped back to an overhead tank to - to be again recirculated ( gravity feed). Cooling in summer represents over 50% of electricity use - residential sector - in summer (8 to 9 months) in a year. I wonder if this was taken into consideration by the impact evaluation professionals. These systems have been successfully tested in my homes. Thank you again for your evaluation. Perhaps my diagram did not address the natural ( geo and air cooled systems) cooling of the cold water supply. The natural cooling impact will be huge I believe - all over the world. In very hot areas it may not completely eliminate use of fans or AC but will result in significant reduction in their use. The only electricity used will be small battery operated or solar pumps - controlled by a simple timer. Thank you. Javed a Sultan |
Javed Sultan Dec 17, 2017 11:08 | Proposal contributor Again thank you for the impact assesment. |
