assignment

**NOTES**

When we meet Tuesday I think we should sit down and quickly discuss this as if we were starting this project from the beginning and have nothing done. I cut out some of the sections but hope that we can add a couple.

-=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmPnOS3UD-M

http://www.rbisolar.com/solutions/solar-carport/

Group Project

We got the idea from one of the early class-group activities discussing building a park for a community. Which led to thinking of a similar project except based around building a third parking garage for the university giving students a fair opportunity to get a spot without circling the lots. This seemed a little too popular of a topic and chose to do a solar system project for the university instead.

Goal:

Determine how to reduce the cost of energy for the University of Toledo and design an execution plan.

What can be done?

Windmills – too many city restrictions

Solar – Where? Supply what facilities. What are the existing conditions?

Questions to answer:

What is the goal?

Find a solution that will reduce the cost of energy consumption

What are the benefits?

Reduce energy costs

Has less impact on the environment compared with nuclear generated energy

What is the present situation?

Paying Toledo Edison currently. Small solar array in front of engineering on Dorr, east of Douglas.

What are the options, what can we do?

Wind - too tall violating land ordinances or require too much space on the ground horizontally

Solar - good option.

Where do we do it?

Somewhere on engineering campus. There is grass space where a building once stood but it is occasionally used for additional parking when the school hosts an event. Building tops offer decent horizontal coverage but make maintenance and installation more difficult and costly. Parking lot - use canopy type structures.

How do we do it?

What are legal stipulations and possible ramifications such as environmental impacts?

When do we do it?

Who do we need?

Students and staff. Staff, many PE, oversee design. Students senior design class. Mechanical, electrical, construction, and possibly environmental engineering students.

SUPER REDUCE COST

ISSUE***Students are less experienced and the project would take a long time. Issue with blockading parking lot during semesters.

Hire:

Electrical and mechanical engineers, panel installers, general contractors and laborers, machine operators

→ we need a company to purchase panels from!!

Who do we buy equipment and materials from?

Somewhere local for good customer service and maintenance if necessary as well as helping stimulate the local economy

What resources do we need?

Equipment, materials,

How will it be paid for?

Grants, fundraising

What is our conclusion of the project?

How to we proceed? Propose to University committee

PROCESS

Research current situation

Identify what can be done

Select best option

Determine how to implement our selection

Determine feasibility

SECTIONS

Present Situation

The goal, as previously stated, is ultimately to reduce the energy consumed by the engineering campus at the University of Toledo. Between North, Palmer, and Nitschke, it is currently approximated that 1.211 MW are consumed by Palmer Hall per year. The maximum amount of collected energy is desired, however, the physical area and the landscape available are the controlling factors in the project.

Given the available space, it was decided that providing power to Palmer Hall was the ideal option. With the capability of powering one building entirely and only a small percentage of a second building, it would be financially inefficient to add the the cost of the project.

The amount of radiant energy collected by this system will vary with atmospheric conditions. Any amount of energy generated will reduce the amount of energy costs for the engineering campus. The expected saving will affect the university budget and in the future affect the cost of attending.

Project introduction

The sole purpose of this project is to use parking lot 20 near Palmer Hall and turn it into a solar carport so we can supplypower to Palmer Hall. Although the university does not necessarily need this project we have decided that it would be beneficial in the long run and would save the university money.

This project will be beneficial to the University because it will reduce the cost of purchasing electricity through Toledo Edison and provides us with more less expensive sustainable energy. Having a solar carport provides us with providing energy to palmer while at the same time not giving up a single parking spot. The location of this carport is beneficial because it is right next to the building, it isn't across the street or on the other side of campus. beneficial for maintenance and if something goes wrong workers will be right next to the building and the carport incase both are needed at the time.

Throughout this scope we will be talking mainly about our best alternative and why we think we should go with solar carports. We will also mention a second alternative we found; General Electric. After our research we concluded that SolarCity carports would be the best option and after you read this scope I hope you can see why.

The calculations for this project are based upon rates provided by different websites. All the rates and information are included in the whole project.

Project Conclusion

project will be driven by a contractor. This hands off supervision is sufficient for a relatively small project such as this. The simplicity of the installation and the overall project inherently minimizes the room for error, and as a result, the accuracy of estimating increases. Accurate projections and minimal unexpected obstacles suggest an efficient and successful project execution.

Proposed project(s) discussion

Storage facilities will include the backlot toward douglas (lot 20) and the grass field that used to be Gen3Bio building location. Thus would be used to store all of the equipment needed and supplies for the project. The equipment would include some of the following, lift(s), pavers, backhoe, trencher (lay in ground wiring), line painter, dump truck, and crane(s). Materials include, support structure, solar panels, wiring, lights, post, asphalt, cement, paint, and other miscellaneous materials. When it comes to the engineering and labor requirements those are as follows, Electrical engineers, Mechanical engineers, Construction/Civil engineers, general laborers, Project overseers, managers, contractors, equipment operators and an architect if needed.

The second option that we have proposed would be to go with Solar Solutions. The would have the same requirements in all categories to build a solar carport of their own design. The only difference in the two companies is the overall structure design, panels used and the final pricing

(Both companies will handle all process of finding and locating all service providers through the process of designing, construction all the way through completion)

Discussion of Possible Funding Sources

This proposed project requires materials and labor that come with a variety of costs, totaling over 4 million dollars. University cant absorb cost into budget The purpose is to be able to generate our own electric energy, but the time required for the university to save as much money as the project will cost, makes this a very expensive project. At a rate of $130,000 per year spent in utility cost for the Palmer facility, it would take 35 years before the solar project would out weight the alternative of continuing to pay for electricity.

The options presented are to either for the University to solely support the entire project, to seek funding from the state suggesting that the move towards green energy is in the interest of the state as well the the school, or to opt towards private investors.

The second option is seeking supplemental funding. The government offers grants to private institutes and universities across a range of categories. In any category, grants are not always offered. The grant we would seek for this project could fall under ‘Energy’ or even ‘Environment’. A proposal could easily argue in favor of the grant being approved on the basis of being environmentally conscious or financially conservative, however, the time availability of the grants offered restrict many aspect of the project - essentially the timeline of the entire project.

http://energy.gov/eere/funding/eere-funding-opportunities

Follow to grants.gov and filter as a private institute or higher education.

Environmental and Safety impact Discussion

As is with any construction project, regardless of whether private, commercial, or residential application, there are state and local ordinances that legally must be complied with. These regulations come with a monetary cost as well as the need to account for potential delays in acquiring permits when scheduling the project and predicting or estimating setbacks.

The solar energy system installation needs a permit obtained by a city building department. These include a building permit and an electrical permit. Also, many of solar installation companies have taken OSHA’s requirements a step farther, creating manuals of their own that detail the specific measures they require to manage solar energy safely.

Areas of concern for solar generation include, land disturbance, impacts on soil, water and air, ecological impacts, and even acoustics or noise control. Other impacts that are not regulated but should be considered on behalf of the reputation and overall best interest of the University are the ascetics of the car port panels and impact on students. Will the supporting structures interfere with any parking spots? Will students have trouble parking a vehicle that isn’t compact or will some have little room to get out of their vehicle without incident? On the other hand the solar energy system are considered safe from an environmental perspective. Because they don't produce harmful greenhouse gases or toxic air that some other energy sources emit. The potential environmental impacts associated with solar power including land use, water use and the most important health and safety hazards come from the use of dangerous materials used in production of the solar cells.

References

http://teeic.indianaffairs.gov/er/solar/legal/index.htm

http://www.seia.org/policy/environment/sustainability/solar-industry-environment-social-responsibility-commitment

http://solareis.anl.gov/guide/environment/

http://energy.gov/energysaver/planning-home-solar-electric-system

http://education.seattlepi.com/dangers-solar-panels-6127.html

https://www.thehartford.com/resources/renewable-energy/solar-energy-risks