COPACOBANA 6_POWER SOLUTIONS

OK so earlier we posted what we were considering for water solutions...well her is what we decided on:
We will collect be collecting all of our water off our roof, before storing it in in undergrounf tanks. This water will then be pumped either to the thermal solar panels for heating or to the household sinks, showers etc.
After water has been used in the sinks and shower it will be stored in a greywater tank for use in our composting toilet or on the garden.
Water from the toilet, blackwater, will be directed through a reed bed filtration sytem.

later we will attach diagrams showing our solutions visually...

COPACOBANA 6_POWER SOLUTIONS

OK so earlier we posted what we were considering for power solutions...well her is what we decided on: We decided to go with the solar power system, using a propane generator as a back up system and to run appliances like the fridge. Solar:
1. solar thermal panels for the heating of water for domestic use, this water will be stored above the service pod so the elevation can be used to genrerate pressure for water usage. The elevation of this tank will lessen the load on our water pump.
2. photovoltaic (PV) panels which convert sunlight to direct current electricity, using the entire roof area over the main living capsule we can produce apporximatly 9.5 kilowatts of electricity. We have worked ou, based on average household appliance usage, that the domus would use approximatly 7.5 kilowatts per hour / day in summer. As the pannels above the living are wuld produce less power during winter we have also included another detached solar grid to back up power supply for pumps etc during winter and therfore lessen the load on the main solar panels.

Propane generator:
The propane generator will be used to power large household appliances to reduce the load on our solar system, as well as act as a backup system in case there is not enough solar power generation during the winter months.

later we will attach diagrams showing our solutions visually...

Materials

The criteria for our material selection was:
-Low Embodied Energy
-Suited to the extreme climate
-Durable
-Locally sourced
The obvious selection became apparant and was Rammed Earth. People have a negative pre-conception of rammed earth and we were no exception. So I searched some photo's on the web to see some contemporary examples and its potential. We were all pretty suprised and impressed.
Locally sourced timber was to become our other major material.
Both materials require relatively little skill which could be important due to the sites remoteness.

Here are a few photo's of Djillumbuddi to give an idea of its remoteness and scale

In week one I collected dozens of images from central Australian landscape, Aboriginal art, native fauna, flora and examples of buildings from arid climates. By doing this I hoped to inspire some direction in our design. We ended up keeping the eagle concept through to our final design.

The form of our building inspired by the wedge tailed eagle is developed to act in harmony with our ventilation system.

Site winds- Djillumbuddi is extremely remote and is on very few maps. The wind information we took was from Halls Creek which is the nearest town about 300km north east easterly.