Water - Spirit

return to Winter 2009 - Design Studio Sessions

Natural water cycle (Helen)

• Wikipedia Description

Absorption rate of clay (Helen)

The absorption rate of clay seems to vary a little depending on the source.

Infiltration rate of

• .2 inch per hour Greenview Spring website
• <.25 inch per hour Managing Michigan Wildlife: A Landowners Guide.
• .33 inch per hour University of Wisconsin – Madison Arboretum

We could perform a water absorption test to determine what type of soil we currently have. The following procedure is from the University of Wisconsin – Madison Arboretum site

Procedure: Perform the following infiltration test at each location selected.

• 1. Dig a hole 6 inches deep by 6 inches in diameter.
• 2. Fill hole with water and let stand for one hour.
• 3. Refill hole with water. Measure depth of water with a ruler.
• 4. Let stand 1 hour. Then measure the depth again.
• 5. Use the following chart to determine soil types based on the rate at which water soaks into the soils.

Soil type: Rate

• Sand: 1.5 inches/hour or 4 hours total
• Silt :1/2 inch/hour or 12 hours total
• Clay 1/3 inch/hour or 18 hours total

Rain Water harvesting (Don)

Imagine
Water Central

• Water Storage
  • Rain Water Pillow

Harvested Water Usage (Tom)

• Evaporated Sprayer System for passive cooling of the roof
  • Autocool Roof System ... indicates a 50 - 70F reduction in roof temp saving 20 - 30% cooling load.
  • Cool Roof Article excellent stats...including "On average, the roof accounts for 35% to 40% of a building's total heat load." This article reinforces the findings above.
  • It could be PV operated because it would be hottest on a sunny day.
  • Solar Shield product
  • Micro-irrigation
    • mirco-irrigation data overview; Univ of Florida Study
    • DripWorks ...they have sprayers and misters; Drip Depot great kits
    • require low-pump pressures...save energy.

• Wash cars/bikes (homeless could do people's cars)
  • Use a wagon or hose to distribute water
• Thermal Storage
  • hot and cold tanks
  • 1 cf of water holds 9.2 kBTU of energy (e.g. 15ft x 10 x 10 = 13,800 kBTU)
  • advanced thinking on thermal storage including molten salt tanks
  • Solar Tubes nice moderately priced passive solar storage.