Autonomous building

[cholical]

So I was considering an idea that I may turn into a science project.

 

So the push for sustainable urban development is not uncommon nowadays, and I was wondering about the feasibility of building a skyscraper completely off of the water and electricity grid. It would be self sustaining: greywater recycling, desalination, power generation by means of wind and solar energy, maybe nuclear. By having energy generation on site, the power loss is reduced since energy is not being transported a long distance. Having the building off the water grid may conserve water but also reduces stress on the water grid.

 

I do not want to get too specific on here just quite yet, but I was wondering if its a good idea to a design a plan for the building as a science project.

 

I'm in high school, so I am not looking to write a scientific paper here.

 

Any suggestions/ideas welcome.

Thanks!

 

If I misplaced this post on the forum, sorry! I am new here.

[EdEarl]

It sound like a good science project, except a skyscraper would tend to be unstable due to its height. You might go for a large short building on the order of the Pentagon, which is a huge office complex but not very tall. That gives you sufficient space for a PV array and rainwater catchment. Equatorial zones never have hurricanes and rainstorms tend to be mild. Deep water is cold enough to use for air conditioning, and has many nutrients that promote algae growth, which is the bottom of the food chain in the ocean. Plankton, small fish, and larger fish will follow, making it possible to provide a sustainable food chain for people living on the floating building. See: The Millennial Project: Colonizing the Galaxy in Eight Easy Steps by Marshall T. Savage for some ideas. Also, engineers in the Netherlands are planning floating cities. Search youtube for floating city.

[cholical]

I was considering a floating city, but I feel that there are already many designs out there and mine would not be very unique. Therefore, I think I am set with designing a building on land.

 

Even if the skyscraper was similar design wise to the Bahrain World Trade Center, would it be unstable? Also, since I am also considering incorporating solar and nuclear power, I have a few ideas. Recently, transparent solar panels have been developed that could be used as windows, and possibly these could be used for power. The nuclear power, if needed, would come from a reactor contained underground, deep enough so a failure would not jeopardize the whole structure.

I will also brainstorm some stuff for a shorter building; thank you for the idea.

 

For the project itself, I am planning to write a paper and use Autocad to design the building. Is there anything else I can do to enhance the project?

 

Thank you so much for your help.

[EdEarl]

I think a nuclear power plant needs to be isolated from most people, because the spent fuel is stored on site and is dangerous for thousands of years after it is used in a reactor.

 

A skyscraper is tall, which means it coul be be integrated with wind power. Vertical PV are limited by the amount of sun that falls on them. PV is most effective when perpendicular to the sun.

 

All tall structure must be fastened to the ground by pilings that are usually sunk into bedrock. Very tall buildings also bend when the wind blows against them or in earthquakes, and are sometimes stabilized by inertia negation.

[Enthalpy]

You should really put figures about the area needed to collect water and provide wind of solar energy. My gut feeling tells: impossible, without hope.

 

Nuclear is excluded, because you have to protect any plant, whether small or big, against the same threat: to get access to plutonium, or to enriched uranium, or even to the polluting waste, a hostile government could deploy huge means - just see the effort any country spends to make bombs. A fenced area of several km² with hundreds of guards is expensive for 1GW and unaffordable for 10MW. I know a pair of companies promote the idea, but it's fool.

 

Autonomous for water, maybe. A slightly less ambitious objective would be to get from from the water grid only the amount of drinkable quality, say up to dish washing, and recycle it after use and cleaning in a second-quality circuit whose loop can be nearly closed, say for showers, car wash, plant growth. That would already be a progress, and Solar energy might suffice just for that use.

 

You might have a look at how the ancient Romans designed their villas to collect water. Though, the settlement density of a skyscraper makes it difficult.

 

After all, the building won't be autonomous for food (too small, and taste too boring!), so why be fully autonomous for water?

 

A single goal difficult enough (though already achieved, it's still a challenge) would be thermal autonomy. If you building can maintain a good temperature all the year without expendable inputs (fuel, electricity or others) it's a nice progress, and a big building eases that.

 

You could also think at distributing Sunlight everywhere in a big building. That's difficult, but elements of solution exist, and it would be useful, for comfort as well.

[Phi for All]

There's a photo-voltaic plastic sheeting you can use to both seal the building envelope (protecting vs the elements from the roof down) and generate electricity, typically for common areas like hallways, lobbies and bathrooms.

 

And don't forget the other side, the units that use the power you're generating. All your mechanicals should be as energy-efficient as possible, as well as lighting (go LED). We have lighting sensors now that can harvest daylight, using whatever the sun is doing and adjusting light accordingly, dimming the lights when it's really bright out, and bringing them up when it's cloudy.

 

Many occupancy sensors for lighting are now being replaced by vacancy sensors. It gives you a feeling of power when an occ sensor turns the light on for you, but it's much more energy efficient to have the sensor turn the lights off when it senses you've gone. Similarly, radar bulbs can sense movement and go from 20% light to full as you enter their range.

After all, the building won't be autonomous for food (too small, and taste too boring!), so why be fully autonomous for water?

 

I didn't take it to mean the building had to withstand a siege, just gather enough water to run it's own plumbing systems (which would include drinking fountains).

[cholical]

I understand I do have a lack of specificity and details and I apologize, but I am still in the initial brainstorming stage.

I appreciate the ideas and suggestions very much. Thank you for the help. I will take everything into consideration.

Overall, is this idea too impractical or sophisticated considering I am at a high school level? I think most problems can be worked out without making the idea too quixotic.

Thanks again.

[EdEarl]

The design and engineering of large buildings are done by teams of people; thus, for you to do a complete design and engineering project would be too much for you. However, that only means you should focus on some aspect of the entire job instead of everything to all levels of detail. You might think of this project as big, complex and scary, or you may think of it as significant, rich and interesting. I think it is the latter.

 

I recommend you start by establishing requirements and continue into design. Choose parts to design you find most interesting and important and work on it as long as you can. It can become a good science project.

[Phi for All]

You might want to check out LEED certification to see how the US Green Building Council determines energy efficiency for buildings.