OLD: Planning Outline

*NOTE* (Sorry I didn't announce this, but my topic is no longer solar energy! The posts starting with "OLD: " are no longer in effect, and are only still on my blog just for reference.
March 30/09


Project: Cost effectiveness of converting existing homes in Kamloops to using photovoltaic and geothermal energy

Method:
To determine the installation and maintenance costs, the relative savings, and their general feasibility in Kamloops, I’ll need to:
1. Search the open net for how they work and what they do, in layman’s terms, and also look for any foreseen technical advancements that may make my data useless.
2. Investigate previous research done on each of them. I will specifically be searching for large databases with collected information from different regions, and find the one most like Kamloops environmentally and geographically.
3. Contact businesses or contractors who deal with the purchase and/or installation, and ask about the difficulty to install, site or house prerequisites, common issues that come up during installation, and ask about who usually buys them (residential/commercial/industrial). I’ll also get some cost/time estimates, and ask about general opinions on feasibility in Kamloops.
4. Seek out businesses and homes who have had one or both installed for a brief period of time, and inquire on costs and savings, if they ever fail or stop working, how often and how severe the issues were (and what they were), their general opinions on the technology, and also on the amount of maintenance required.

Special Problems:
- If no research data from Kamloops, or anywhere relatively close, what factors will determine which data is most applicable to Kamloops?
- If there’s a major technological breakthrough (especially in photovoltaics) between now and the final hand-in date, what research can I keep, and how will I get newer information?

Also:
- Who’s going to be the primary reader? Contractors, engineers, researchers, teachers?
- Does any building in Kamloops currently implement either photovoltaics or geothermal heating? How will I find them? Will they allow me to interview them?
- Are there any Western-Canadian retailers or contractors who specialize in either of them?

Information Sources:
- M. Marshall, personal communication, Feb 27, 2009.
- Lionel, personal communication 250-372-3441, March, 2009.
- E. Begley, personal correspondence, March, 2009.
- Energy Efficient and Renewable Energy. Geothermal Technologies Program. Retrieved February 27, 2009, from within the EERE’s website, http://www1.eere.energy.gov/geothermal.
- Buresch, M. (1983). Photovoltaic Energy Systems. McGraw Hill Book Company.
- Oliver, M. Jackson, T (2001). Energy and Economic Evaluation of Building-Integrated Photovoltaics, 26(4), 431-439. Retrieved February 27, 2009, from http://www.sciencedirect.com.
- Zhai, X., Yang, J., Wang, R. (2009, July). Design and performance of the solar-powered floor heating system in a green building. Renewable Energy, 34(7), 1700-1708. Retrieved February 28, 2009, from http://www.sciencedirect.com, ISSN No. 0960-1481.
- Kalinci, Y., Balta, T., Hepbasli, A. (2009, April). Performance assessment of a geothermally heated building. Energy Policy, 37(4), 1502-1508. Retrieved February 28, 2009, from http://www.sciencedirect.com, ISSN No. 0301-4215.
- Komurcu, M., Akpinar, A. (2009, June). Importance of geothermal energy and its environmental effects in Turkey. Renewable Energy, 34(6), 1611-1615. Retrieved February 28, 2009, from http://www.sciencedirect.com, ISSN No. 0960-1481.
- Eicker, U., Vorschulze, C. (2009, April Potential of geothermal heat exchangers for office building climatisation. Renewable Energy, 34(4), 1126-1133. Retrieved February 28, 2009, from http://www.sciencedirect.com, ISSN No. 0960-1481.