Welcome to the first water introduction post. Over the next few weeks the water team will be providing a subsystem overview, and we’ll post periodic blogs about our progress. Also, keep an eye out for a Weekly Wednesday Water Wisdom where team members will explain the specifics of their projects or answer questions so you can learn more about our team. In this blog, we’re going to talk briefly about water’s role in the individual Solar Decathlon Africa contests.
First, while there is no individual water contest, it is relevant to multiple others:
- Engineering & Construction will account for the plumbing design and whether it fits the house’s needs.
- Appliances has water as a key component to multiple subcontests. The clothes washer subcontest requires that only water be used (the type of water is not specified). The cooking subcontest requires 2 kg of water in a pot be vaporized using a kitchen appliance (such as a stove top) in a set amount of time.
- Home Life & Entertainment utilizes water in multiple subcontests as well. A subcontest about hot water draws requires roughly 50 L of water to be delivered within a specific temperature range and in 10 minutes. The dinner party subcontest will also require hot water for washing the dishes before and after the party.
- Sustainability will assess water consumption as a key factor in scoring.
- Innovation will measure the house’s water system against a comparable house’s water system. Innovative strategies in water management should make our water team top contenders.
Designing and building a water system that will score well in the ten Solar Decathlon Africa contests is our priority. Recently, the team has been busy designing and deciding on various water system components that we believe will make our team competitive. Stay tuned for our next blog, where we will discuss the components of our proposed water system.
Water Systems Lead
