Water - Spirit
From Green Garage Detroit
return to Winter 2009 - Design Studio Sessions
Contents
Natural water cycle (Helen)
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.
- Dig a hole 6 inches deep by 6 inches in diameter.
- Fill hole with water and let stand for one hour.
- Refill hole with water. Measure depth of water with a ruler.
- Let stand 1 hour. Then measure the depth again.
- 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
- Off the Grid Water
Harvested Water Usage (Tom)
- Rainfall Volumes
mm | inches | |
---|---|---|
Jan | 44.7 | 1.76 |
Feb | 44.2 | 1.74 |
Mar | 64.8 | 2.55 |
Apr | 74.9 | 2.95 |
May | 74.2 | 2.92 |
June | 91.7 | 3.61 |
July | 80.8 | 3.18 |
Aug | 87.1 | 3.43 |
Sept | 73.4 | 2.89 |
Oct | 53.3 | 2.10 |
Nov | 67.8 | 2.67 |
Dec | 71.6 | 2.82 |
inches | |
---|---|
Jan | 1.91 |
Feb | 1.88 |
Mar | 2.52 |
Apr | 3.05 |
May | 3.05 |
June | 3.55 |
July | 3.16 |
Aug | 3.10 |
Sept | 3.27 |
Oct | 2.23 |
Nov | 2.66 |
Dec | 2.51 |
Dryest Amt | Year | Wettest Amt | Year | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Jan | .023 | 1961 | 5.02 | 1932 |
Feb | 0.04 | 1877 | 6.41 | 1881 |
Mar | 0.38 | 1910 | 5.63 | 1913 |
Apr | 0.53 | 1899 | 6.89 | 1947 |
May | 0.43 | 1920 | 8.46 | 2004 |
June | 0.55 | 1895 | 8.31 | 1892 |
July | 0.5 | 1930 | 8.76 | 1878 |
Aug | 0.16 | 1894 | 8.33 | 1926 |
Sept | 0.39 | 1877 | 7.52 | 1986 |
Oct | 0.13 | 2005 | 7.8 | 1954 |
Nov. | 0.19 | 1904 | 5.68 | 1982 |
Dec | 0.42 | 1900 | 5.19 | 1967 |
Dryest Amt | Year | Wettest Amt | Year | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Spring | 3.32 | 1958 | 16.31 | 1947 |
Summer | 3.58 | 1911 | 16.96 | 1896 |
Fall | 2.78 | 1908 | 13.74 | 1881 |
Winter | 2.36 | 1962-63 | 12.74 | 1949-50 |
- Garden Beds Water Needs
- Assumptions:
- Native plants in the wild don't need to be watered. Then they can survive on on average of 3" a month in Michigan May - Sept.
- Front Bed and front of Annex: because of the extreme heat island in the front of the buildings those areas will need 4" of rain per month.
- If we store the equivalent of one weeks need: 1" for the front and parking area and .75" for the alley and .5" backyard (obtained either from rain or gray water) the following shows the rain barrel need.
- 1 Weeks Water Needs by Garden Area:
- Front Bed: Area: 254 sq ft, Gals needed(1"): 159, Rain Barrels (55 gal): 3
- Parking Lot: Area: 892 sq ft, Gals needed(1"): 555, Rain Barrels (55 gal): 10
- Alley: Area: 744 sq ft, Gals needed(.75"): 349, Rain Barrels (55 gal): 6
- Backyard: Area: 721 sq ft, Gals needed(.5"): 225, Rain Barrels (55 gal): 4
- If we can supplement the rainwater with steady supply source i.e. gray water, the storage size need could be reduced. (a half a week supply or a couple day supply)
- Further Considerations:
- Green Garage soil abortion rates
- insulation around cement to decrease island heat effect?
- Assumptions:
- 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.
- Self-WateringGardening system
- Hydroponics Gardening
- What Is Hydroponics?
- VerticalGardening System
- Various Hydroponics Systems
- 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.