PrintConsider this activity as a slight detour in preparation for your final project proposals in this course.
While you are still on your way through the course lessons that explore solar design concepts, it is probably about time to start thinking about a potential locale and client you want to direct your efforts towards for your couse project. This final proposal will be the synthesis of your prior work, learned skills and tools in the form of a professional project SECS design, which eventually may become the basis for the real implementation scenario.
Here are some guiding points to start this off:
- List a few (2-3) geographical sites that are of potential interest to you. Consider that the solar dataset (TMY2) needs to be available for a location nearby. This will initially limit you to several hundred sites in the USA for your SAM simulations (although data from other locations can be incorporated by synthesizing a weather file in SAM).
- Take a brief look at policies in the locale or government incentives that would make a project proposal more likely in each site.
- Address whether the constraints of site location and local/regional/federal policies might guide one toward proposing a residential, commercial, or utility scale SECS (thermal or PV).
- Finally, address the following question: If you were looking for a client base (individuals or a group of investors), who is your target audience to make a "pitch" to in a future charette?
Create a post in Yellowdig with your brainstormed project ideas using the Course Project Topics tag. Be sure to check what everyone is doing and respond with comments and suggestions and answer any questions to yours.
Deadline
I would like everyone complete their topic brainstorm by the middle of Lesson 7 week (following Sunday), so you have some extra time to search and choose until then. And this is actually a mandatory activity! I need to see what everyone's plans are for the project, so if nothing is posted, I will get back to you and bug you :)