Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute (BAMSI)
Location: Andros Island, Bahamas
Community Partner: Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute (BAMSI)
Description: The ESW team will work with BAMSI and Ms. Riley to implement sustainable agricultural technologies on her farm, namely a solar-powered irrigation pump: Her current irrigation system relies on a gasoline-powered water pump, which must be operated manually. This presents a large (and increasing) fuel cost to power her irrigation system and also forces Ms. Riley to spend several hours every day turning her water pump on and off. The ESW team will replace this system with a solar-powered water pump, while leaving the current pump available as supplementary power. A majority of farmers on Andros Island use similar gasoline pumps, and developing a low-cost solution could impact more farms than just Ms. Riley’s.
BahaSol
Environmental Justice Community Action Network (EJCAN)
Location: Clinton, North Carolina
Community Partner: Environmental Justice Community Action Network (EJCAN)
Description: Description: EJCAN is based in North Carolina and seeks to promote environmental justice throughout rural communities across the state. They are in the process of renovating a 20,000 sq ft property and are interested in achieving green building certification to align with their role as leading their community in sustainable development. Therefore, the ESW team will design and recommend sustainable building design choices that EJCAN could implement, requiring the team to: research and plan for green building certification, construct both physical and digital models, and report to EJCAN with their findings.
LEED
Monte Azul Foundation
Location: Puerto Rico, United States
Community Partner: Monte Azul Foundation
Description: The Monte Azul Foundation currently transports a portable electric water pump to a nearby river (700 ft away) and pumps water periodically into an 800 gallon cistern at their facility. The water is used for various operational purposes (crop irrigation, gray water, etc), and is a non-potable water source. The portable electric pump is gasoline powered and inconvenient to use. Additionally, there is an existing retired stationary pump in the river which has been out of service for several years. The ESW project team will work on a feasibility analysis, cost assessment, and planning report for a run-of-river hydropowered stationary pump and PVC pipe transport system to replace the gasoline electric pump. The team will model their proposed physical system for Monte Azul through a scaled model and proof-of-concept prototype as well. Engineering decisions for this project will include assessing the feasibility of retrofitting the retired stationary pump in the river or constructing a new system, managing tank overflow at the cistern, and numerous others.
The Fantastic 4
Tropenbos Ghana
Location: Ashanti Region, Ghana
Community Partner: Tropenbos Ghana
Description: Tropenbos Ghana is a non-profit organization seeking to fight deforestation across Ghana through sustainable landscape management. In 2023, Tropenbos launched an initiative to spread tree seedlings across the Ashanti Region in South Central Ghana, and have been investigating methods to track the progress of forest growth since then. Therefore, this ESW team will work closely with Tropenbos to build a monitoring system that will measure and track reforestation efforts across this region that Tropenbos can use for their landscape management operations. Current approaches will likely incorporate Computer Vision and satellite imagery to quantify reforestation growth, measure challenges currently facing reforestation efforts, and provide Tropenbos a data model to advise them on future operations.
The Tree Trackers
Location: Andros Island, Bahamas
Community Partner: Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute (BAMSI)
Description: The ESW team will work with BAMSI and Ms. Riley to implement sustainable agricultural technologies on her farm, namely a solar-powered irrigation pump: Her current irrigation system relies on a gasoline-powered water pump, which must be operated manually. This presents a large (and increasing) fuel cost to power her irrigation system and also forces Ms. Riley to spend several hours every day turning her water pump on and off. The ESW team will replace this system with a solar-powered water pump, while leaving the current pump available as supplementary power. A majority of farmers on Andros Island use similar gasoline pumps, and developing a low-cost solution could impact more farms than just Ms. Riley’s.
BahaSol
Environmental Justice Community Action Network (EJCAN)
Location: Clinton, North Carolina
Community Partner: Environmental Justice Community Action Network (EJCAN)
Description: Description: EJCAN is based in North Carolina and seeks to promote environmental justice throughout rural communities across the state. They are in the process of renovating a 20,000 sq ft property and are interested in achieving green building certification to align with their role as leading their community in sustainable development. Therefore, the ESW team will design and recommend sustainable building design choices that EJCAN could implement, requiring the team to: research and plan for green building certification, construct both physical and digital models, and report to EJCAN with their findings.
LEED
Monte Azul Foundation
Location: Puerto Rico, United States
Community Partner: Monte Azul Foundation
Description: The Monte Azul Foundation currently transports a portable electric water pump to a nearby river (700 ft away) and pumps water periodically into an 800 gallon cistern at their facility. The water is used for various operational purposes (crop irrigation, gray water, etc), and is a non-potable water source. The portable electric pump is gasoline powered and inconvenient to use. Additionally, there is an existing retired stationary pump in the river which has been out of service for several years. The ESW project team will work on a feasibility analysis, cost assessment, and planning report for a run-of-river hydropowered stationary pump and PVC pipe transport system to replace the gasoline electric pump. The team will model their proposed physical system for Monte Azul through a scaled model and proof-of-concept prototype as well. Engineering decisions for this project will include assessing the feasibility of retrofitting the retired stationary pump in the river or constructing a new system, managing tank overflow at the cistern, and numerous others.
The Fantastic 4
Tropenbos Ghana
Location: Ashanti Region, Ghana
Community Partner: Tropenbos Ghana
Description: Tropenbos Ghana is a non-profit organization seeking to fight deforestation across Ghana through sustainable landscape management. In 2023, Tropenbos launched an initiative to spread tree seedlings across the Ashanti Region in South Central Ghana, and have been investigating methods to track the progress of forest growth since then. Therefore, this ESW team will work closely with Tropenbos to build a monitoring system that will measure and track reforestation efforts across this region that Tropenbos can use for their landscape management operations. Current approaches will likely incorporate Computer Vision and satellite imagery to quantify reforestation growth, measure challenges currently facing reforestation efforts, and provide Tropenbos a data model to advise them on future operations.
The Tree Trackers
