Hydroelectric ideas for houses.

Project

269443

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Submitted

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NEW EUROPEAN BAUHAUS RISING STARS : concepts or ideas submitted by young talents (aged 30 or less)

Project title

Hydroelectric ideas for houses.

Full concept/idea title

Description

This experimental project takes rainwater as a potential source of energy. The water is used both as a way to produce electricity and a way to storage a physical potential, reproducing the principle of water dams at home. It consists in a system of two objects. This is part of a design research called Available Networks. A work intending to exploit our surrounding and discrete sources of energy. 

Where is your concept/idea being developed or intended to be implemented in the EU?

Please provide a summary of your concept/ idea

The idea is to consider rain as an abundant and available source of energy.  The project seeks to use it as a flow of energy but also as a stock. I propose a system consisting of two devices able to channel this water and exploit the energy it can offer. This is a continuation of my diploma project at Ensci-Les Ateliers, Paris, France. I made a first model, producing 15Watt and 12Volts. Thanks to this prize, I'd like to improve its efficience and autonomy by spending time designing the turbine and producing a proof of concept in the public space in Bretagne, France. Then on a large scale of time, I'd like to transform it into a easy to install kit for hydroelectricity into buildings.

Please give information about the key objectives of your concept/idea in terms of sustainability and how these would be met

Facing the global warming, solutions are found by designers and engineers to work with renewable sources of energies: either as a primary source of energy (bioclimatic principles, biomass) or as a way to produce electricity (photovoltaic, windturbines). But to face the intermittence of these energies, people have to use expensive and/or polluting solutions of energy storage. Starting from this observation, my idea is that we no longer need to find new ways to "produce" energy but new ways to negociate their temporalities. Designers has to integrate stock or storage issue as the starting point of their design, to be able to create coincidence between moments of production and moments of consumption of energies at the scale of houses, buildings, streets.In this way, we'll be able to take benefits from our direct surrounding environments and their daily phenomenon.   To inaugurate this approach, this experimental project takes rainwater as a potential source of energy. The water is used both as a way to produce electricity and a way to stock a physical potential, reproducing the principle of a water dam at a domestical scale. It consists in a system of two objects : a hydrogenerating gargoyle and a water tank. Both are made of zinc, a low emission material that can easily be shaped by craftmen.

Please give information about the key objectives of your concept/idea in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience beyond functionality and how these would be met

The first intention of this whole project (available networks) was to transform daily and beautiful phenomenon surrounding us into a tangible and usable king of energy. So this project, as a starting point is a try to take another positive and optimistic look to our imediate environment, to vectorize and to sublime its unexpected potentialites. On a more direct aspect, for users, the interest of this product is mainly economic. It delivers a cheap electricity and since no chemical energy storage is involved, there are no batteries to be replaced. Only water, zinc and a turbines. It is also an ecological and ethical choice, of course and another impact I wished from this project was to aesthetically transform the silhouette of houses. I wanted this system to have a strong visual impact, unlike current storage solutions that are often hidden on walls. So, people could appropriate and use it as a commitment sign. In terms of integration to the building, the idea is to offer an object that can “fit” - both geometrically and visually - in lot of construction sites, so I propose an evolutive design and a manufacturing process that can adapt these evolutions.

Please give information about the key objectives of your concept/idea in terms of inclusion and how these would be been met

To design the gargoyle and water tanks, I worked with zinc workers. Zinc is a low emission material and as it is a soft metal, its manufacturing can easily adapt to situations, needs of the consumers according to differents kind of roof. This is a semi-industrial production process that satisfy my intentions more than a heavy industrial process. The work of zinc is also a know-how which is widespread in France (and in Europe) but which is currently facing economic issues, as it is pretty expansive compared to other roof solutions. So, this project intends to give a new market to these activities and makes from an "energey device" a tool to regenerate a local manufacturing process.  In the end, it's a way to propose an affordable, yet sculptural objet to everyone.

Please explain the innovative character of your concept/ idea

My project started with a discussion of what is a solution in a global climate change context. I think that to create an object that satisfies our currents ways of life in “a cleaner” way could be an innovation but not a long-term solution. On a global point of view, we have to consume and to produce less. Then a solution is not only an object that uses/vectorizes/transforms a cleaner energy but also comes with a point of view on how we could live in other ways.  After a proficient research on how we could live using different kinds of energy (biomass, naturals gas, bioclimatic principles etc…) I managed to distinguish energy and electricity demand of our uses. Then I focused on the tiny part of electricity that remains to satisfy. This is why my proposition is not about producing a lot of electricity but thinking of how much electricity we actually need. Currently, the only physical energy storage considered at the scale of buildings are CAES (compressed air energy storage), but they are dangerous, space demanding and are not so efficient since a part of the energy dissipates into heating during the compression. The principle of stocking energy with water becomes an interesting alternative but needs to be accompany with a reduction of electrical uses.

Please detail the plans you have for the further development, promotion and/or implementation of your concept/idea, with a particular attention to the initiatives to be taken before May 2022

As a first step, I would like to optimize the power of the turbine by working with qualified engineers and thanks to this new turbine, to build a proof of concept for the public space in Bretagne. Hopefully, this installation will allow me to improve the  system and to think about a large scale product. As a second step, I would like to transpose this idea into an easy-to-install kit for houses or collective buildings. I'd like to consider this concept as a tool for mutualization of energy.  

By ticking this box, you declare that all the information provided in this form is factually correct, that the proposed concept/idea has not been proposed for the New European Bauhaus Rising Stars Awards more than once in the same category.