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Hi guys! Final update on our progress!! We have been working on completing the details of our project and preparing for our final presentation next week, gathering results and refining our estimates. We improved the overall accessibility of our model, included seasonal variance in predicting energy demand, and conducted an efficiency analysis to accurately represent sunlight received in Clinton, NC. Additionally, we are in conversation with the Stanford Central Energy Facility (CEF) about the types of data we would need to validate the accuracy of our estimates. Improving our solar model: We turned our python code into a real app! Following along with this idea, we took a few more steps towards making our software accessible. Firstly, we tested our model on different computer manufacturers to ensure that it didn’t only work on Apple devices. Second, we finalized the details on our guide, which will be sent out to peers without experience in Visual Studio Code, and are awaiting feedback. Our guide includes steps to download and initialize the app on Mac and Windows, help with navigating the UI/UX display, and elaboration on the information the app displays. From there, we will make appropriate improvements to our model and include our observations and analysis in our final presentation. Try downloading the app yourself here!   Refining our Analysis: We worked on improving our energy estimates to take into account seasonal variation and efficiency. By using data on energy consumption in North Carolina over the course of the year, we divided our energy estimates into Winter/Summer demands and Spring/Fall demands (kWh/yr). We also worked on developing a range of estimates to model different possibilities of the 20,000 sqft office space's annual energy demand. Our final conservative annual estimate amounted to 211,250 kWh, and our ambitious estimate for EJCAN’s office space is 325,000 kWh. These were both achieved by going from a baseline of 13 kWh/sqft/yr (for the lower estimate) and 20 kWh/sqft/yr (for the higher estimate). Our starting point numbers come from energy estimates for small and mid-sized office spaces and were adjusted for seasonal variation. We also conducted a solar efficiency analysis. In this case, we define solar efficiency as the percentage of monthly sunshine hours divided by the total hours of sunlight per month. 100% efficiency means that the sun is always out (no cloudy days, no rain, etc.), and 0% efficiency indicates that the sun is never out (always cloudy, always rainy, etc) We used Nomad Season’s Monthly Climate Data in Raleigh, giving us Mean Monthly Sunshine Hours and Mean Daily Daylight Hours, and calculated the ratio of sunshine hours to total hours of sunlight for each month, yielding these results:  Next steps:
We will have our final meeting with EJCAN on Tuesday, May 29th, to update them on our work. We are also in discussion with Andrew Lau-Seim, the associate director of energy operations at the CEF, who will kindly provide us with some of Stanford’s solar panel data with which we can compare the accuracy of the “Solar Simulation” model. Finally, as we have completed the details of our guide and sent it out to our test subjects, we will await and then discuss and compile their responses/feedback through our Google form. It's been an amazing two quarters, and we’re so excited to see our project near completion! Signing off - The Renew Crew.
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What’s up y'all!!!! Back at it again with another blog post!! Over the course of the past few weeks, we’ve been working on refining our experiment, and the use of our models. We have been working on improving their accuracy, and accessibility. Our models, along with the guide we are working on, should be useful tools for EJCAN in their solar development process. We have also been getting in touch with solar energy providers to come up with an estimate of what EJCAN’s possible energy demand could look like, and what solar panels would be best to supply it. We also contacted the Central Energy Facility (CEF) on campus to gain access to their data and learn how they analyze it. However, because the control variables for our experiment are Clinton’s exact location (latitude and longitude) and weather conditions (Clinton-specific weather data), we thought that using insights based at Stanford may not be similar enough for us fully apply in our simulations. However, we hope to learn how they approach solar energy analysis for our experiment!  Solar Simulation Update:
Building off of our previous solar installation dashboard, we remodified the available roof area such that it takes up the entire roof rather than a segmented rectangle directly facing South. Doing so optimized the total available area that our solar installation can take up and thus increased the maximum amount of energy that we can generate. In order to do so, we oriented the roof space based on the angle between the rectangular roof and the x-axis, fixing the roof space to be accurate to the site. By reorienting the roof space, we needed to end a row of solar panels based on when the top right angle of a solar panel goes over the perimeter, which was accomplished by remodifying a function in our python script. Moreover, we also added a reset button to automatically set the sliders to default values, which is convenient for experimenting with various conditions. We also included a toggle to control for the tilt of a panel and whether or not it will be flat, allowing for us to control different configurations. As of now, we are refining calculations and figuring out how to factor in panel efficiency! Other stuff we did: We also contacted several solar and energy companies in order to figure out what battery storage system best fits EJCAN’s building, energy usage, and Clinton’s weather conditions. In this way, we could best use the Resiliency Hub’s grant funding for energy storage. Many companies had trouble helping the us as EJCAN’s building is nonresidential. However, two of the companies of note are Solar SME and Southern Energy Management. We got onto a call with Noman from Solar SME who confirmed our belief that battery storage was much more cost/energy efficient than sending energy back to the Duke grid during excess solar energy periods and drawing energy out during times of low solar energy. Drawing energy out would cost 31.33 times more than what EJCAN would gain from selling it back. This is especially important as EJCAN will likely use machines such as water testing that requires drawing energy during the nighttime when the sun is not providing. To complete his estimations for the best system, Noman asked us to provide him with the building’s electrical service details, electrical meter picture, all the breakers’ amps ratings and annual usage data in kWh. We are still awaiting the information from EJCAN, and expect to schedule a follow up call with Solar SME once we have received the information that we are looking for. Next, we got on a call with Spencer with Southern Energy Management. He let us know what in addition to the information that solar energy wanted from us, it would be important to include multiple photos that give a good idea of the roof conditions, and interval datal. The interval data would consist of precise timeframes of how energy is consumed throughout the course of the day. We are still awaiting the information from EJCAN, and expect to schedule a follow up call with Souther Energy Management once we have received the information that we are looking for. Next steps: For our next steps, we will work on creating a guide for EJCAN to easily download, launch, and use the solar simulation. We want these tools to be as user friendly as possible, and will test the guide on subjects that have no previous experience with the software. We will use their feedback to adapt our model, and send over a finished version to EJCAN for their use. Additionally, once we receive the necessary information from EJCAN, we will follow up with solar energy companies. Hello again!! It's been a couple of weeks, and we have a few fun updates to share :) First Spring Partner Meeting: Excitingly, on April 15, we met with Kyron and Sherri, our two main contacts at EJCAN. We were able to update them on our progress since the Spring break trip, which included heat maps of the building and a demonstration of the coded Solar Simulation (more info below). Sherri revealed that an upcoming grant deadline for $350,000 is April 25. However, as this 250-word grant is more narrative-driven rather than technical, the presentation we delivered in Clinton is enough for Cassandra, EJCAN’s grant writer. Another grant they had recently submitted was for the Resiliency Hub, which they shared is supplemented by energy storage. This means that we must calculate whether it would be more efficient (financially and energy-wise) to install an energy storage system or rely on sending excess energy back to the Duke Energy grid. To calculate this, we asked for the monthly energy bill of EJCAN’s old office building. The information would provide estimates of months that are solar deficient/abundant and by what percentage. When we receive specific details for both grants, we hope they will inform further engineering parameters and information we can provide to EJCAN. Solar Simulation: We’ve created a Python script that models a possible solar installation! Sliders can be modified to see how different input variables affect output numbers, which will help us create different scenarios depending on what parameters EJCAN wants fixed and which parameters are more flexible.  Next steps for Solar Simulation:
Heat Maps: We generated 3D visualizations of direct sun hours and their distribution across the building. We used the LADYBUG plug-in for GRASSHOPPER, and with a modeled version of the building in RHINO 3D, created a parametric block-code program that can be paired with EPW data on the annual weather conditions of Clinton, NC.  In doing so, we gain a better understanding of how much sunlight each portion of the building receives annually, which not only provides us with a justification for the placement of our solar installation but also serves as a visualization to include in our grant write-up for EJCAN! Thus, our next steps with these visualizations are to figure out how to integrate these exact measurements into our solar simulation, develop new methods to optimize solar energy, etc.  Next steps:
For our next steps, we would like to refine our data points to create more accurate numbers and information to go off of. Notably, in our last meeting with EJCAN, they offered to connect us to the NC State Technology Center and send over information on their previous electricity bill from their old workplace. They also offered to contact Duke Energy, their energy provider, and send us the list of questions that are going to be answered in the grant application. As we now know that there is a stricter timeline on the grant process, we will focus on drafting a preliminary 250-word introduction to the project. This initial introduction will be more narrative-driven, with the technical information being used for later grant applications, which will supplement this one. It will focus on the project’s relevance and how it ties back to EJCAN’s mission of climate activism. Welcome to the Renew Crew’s blog! The team pictured from left to right is Ryan Lam, Eddie Mu, Chloe Clement-Finkel, and Austin Kim (team lead).  Our two coaches are Asia Zhang and Alessandro Zulli, and we are also working with Bill Ellis from the Community and College Partners Program (C2P2). We’ve partnered with EJCAN, an environmental action group, to help them put solar panels on an abandoned armory they recently acquired! Who is EJCAN? The Environmental Justice Community Action Network (EJCAN) is a nonprofit located in Clinton, North Carolina. They seek to improve the lives of the local community, who have been subject to environmental hazards by a massive landfill and rampant hog industry nearby. EJCAN is in the process of expanding to this new building for all of their day-to-day activities, and hopes to power this building using solar panels to lead the community in positive environmental change by example.  Their future building of residence has two main spaces. Up north is a large gymnasium (blue), surrounded by smaller auxiliary rooms (red). Down south are various small rooms, which are designated to become EJCAN’s office space (green).  Project Goals
Where are we at right now? During winter quarter, we estimated electricity demand of the building space using available online data and modelled a potential installation through Google Maps measurements. Using these numbers, we created a financial estimate and sample plan for an installation that would power the southern office space. We just returned from a site visit from March 23-25, 2025 with many questions answered and many more to resolve! (Alessandro is pictured below pondering these questions.)  Next Steps
We're excited for spring quarter and can't wait to see what we create! |
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