TECHNICAL DESIGN PROCESS On October 31st and November 1st, 2012, Metabolic Lab hosted a technical design workshop for the Cleantech Playground, which was attended by our core team and a number of domain experts. During this workshop, we explored three conceptual approaches for how the CTP system could work. These scenarios were conceived of as thought experiments to test the range of potential technologies and edge conditions that we may encounter. They are further documented and described in Appendix D of this document. The scenarios were: › test case scenarios for review. From these midterm designs, we received feedback from the communities and a selection of engineers from different backgrounds. This informed our final design decisions and our approach of creating flexible tools in addition to design recommendations. Early in the design process, we contacted hundreds of technology providers in order to understand the specifications of products offered by cleantech companies, which products at what performance were in development, and how companies would like to be involved in projects like the Cleantech Playground. Thus far, potential technology partners have been interested in the opportunities embedded in the project and have been receptive to providing technology in-kind in exchange for visibility and ongoing research. Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Scenario: explores what can be achieved with minimal funding, repurposed materials, and a high level of community participation for both construction and management of the CTP. › Proven Technology Scenario: evaluates how commercially available systems can be recombined to provide the targeted needs of the CTP. › Fantasy Technology Scenario: imagines how to incorporate developing and new technologies into the CTP and how to reasonably push the boundaries of current standards in cleantech. Using and adding to a clean technology database we had developed over the summer of 2012, we created cleantech cards showing inputs, outputs, and key information about individual technologies. We used these cards and their data to visually model different technological systems. From modeling these systems with internal and external experts, we designed three TECHNOLOGICAL SCALE Within the sustainability field, there is a debate about the optimal scale and degree of centralization of technologies for energy generation, waste processing, and other resource management. There is a tradeoff between the costs and materials required for decentralization and the flexibility and responsiveness of the system. It is possible to develop an algorithm for determining the optimal level of technological decentralization by factoring in parameters such as: the occurance of a resource (spatial density and abundance), the cost of the technology required to process that resource until it is useful, the material impacts of the processing technology (represented sometimes in proxy by cost), the cost of transport, and the density of demand / consumption of that resource. These variables are constantly in flux, so the answer to how centralized or decentralized should optimally be is also contantly changing. The system designs presented in this report do not reflect an optimal level of technological decentralization. Rather, because the main focus of this project is to illustrate what is possible even within severe financial constraints, our primary drivers for technological selection in this regard were the expressed desire of the community to be self sufficient and the financial investment capacity of both communities. 26 / 146 Pagina 25
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