Saturday, July 7, 2012

Week 1 Day 5: Laying the foundation of our Smart City

Like any great structure, the construction of our Smart City began today with a careful consideration of the climate and the natural resources available in the region. Today's main idea was that, as engineers we are always striving to work with nature and not against it. To build a Smart City that emphasizes on sustainability as much as the quality of life of it's residents, we must harvest energy from renewable resources. The two groups had different climates in which their cities will be built in, my group's city is located along a coast, on a peninsula. The average temperature is constant throughout the year at about 70 degrees Fahrenheit. There are threats of high tide, flooding, hurricanes and at times strong winds. Given these conditions and various more, the Elusive Silver Tigers (Group B) were able to decide, as a team, to generate electricity from underwater turbines, solar panels and wind turbines. The solar panels will be placed on the roof of various buildings and the turbines near the coast, to provide maximum power and to attract tourists. Building got underway today and we are making very good progress.

Sophia Mercurio of the Ying Yang Dragons (group A) showed her students the power of the Sun, measuring the voltage output of a bunch of solar panels in Metrotech Commons. 

(clockwise) Me, Miya, Dayja, Celine and Eon talking about why it is smarter to live in a city as opposed to a farm. Celine mentioned that living in a farm costs more, transmitting and delivering electricity from the power plant to densely populated areas is less efficient and risks energy loss from long distance transmission. 

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