Where do electricians get their supplies? The Ohm Depot.

    For the class Urban Planning, we have spent our second unit, power, learning about electricity. This has entailed learning how to calculate voltage, wattage, resistance, and current using Ohm's law. We have also researched Coulomb’s law, alternating currents, direct currents, Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla, circuits, and more related to electricity. We also met with engineers with Arup who helped us understand the different amounts of energy everyday machines use. They also donated solar panels that we could use for our circuits. For our Action Project, we are applying this knowledge to make our own circuit that can power five resistors and be used in an energy-efficient household.

Circuit Diagram - LS - 2023

    We started with a diagram, which you can see above, and then built it using a circuit kit, below. Our design has remained simplistic because we wanted to ensure the entire circuit could be powered by two batteries. We had to test many different circuits to make sure that everything was functioning and our final design ended up being simple and compact because of the small energy source.

Circuit - LS - 2023

    The final step in this project was to calculate the energy use in our circuit. We used what we learned about Ohm's law, resistance, voltage, and current to calculate the resistance and current of the entire circuit and each branch since it is a parallel circuit.

Circuit Calculations - PC - 2023 

    When applying our circuit design to real houses we aligned each resistor with a different appliance that could be found in a modern home. We also calculated how much money would be saved with a more energy-efficient version of that appliance. I made a cover for the circuit to hide the wires and also demonstrate how it would look in a home.

Light: LED light bulb: LED lights are energy efficient and have a longer life span.
Energy usage: when used 6 hours per day-3.66 kWh per month, $0.52 a month (regular lights-73.2kWh, $3.12)

R1: Tankless water heater, when the heater is on standby it doesn't waste energy it only heats up when hot water is needed.
Energy usage: 270 kWh per month, $40 per month (regular-$65 per month)

R1 (dark yellow): Energy Star-rated laundry machine: These laundry machines use 20% less energy than regular washers.
Energy usage: 20% less energy-8.75 kWh per month, $1.31 (regular-11.67 kWh, $4.8)

R2: Ventless clothes dryer: Vented dryers use a lot of energy to produce a lot of heat when drying clothes, and ventless dryers remove moisture as opposed to using heat to dry it.
Energy usage: Typically 20%-50% less energy is used than vented dryers

Motor: Energy Star-certified Air Conditioner: These ACs use seasonal energy efficiency ratio and energy efficiency ratio ratings which use 8 percent less energy than other models.
Energy usage: Energy Star Certified: 115 Volts // Average AC: 240 Volts

Circuit with labeled cover - PC - 2023

    SDG 7 is a plan to create sustainable and affordable energy for all. Target 7.b states the intent to “expand infrastructure and upgrade technology for supplying modern and sustainable energy services.” This aligns with our project because we are using newer technology to make a more sustainable and energy-efficient household. Another part of target 7.b is making energy-efficient service available in underdeveloped countries and we hope to be able to use our design in homes across the world and make these appliances available everywhere.

    When first creating our circuit we struggled with having enough power for everything but after some redesigns, we were able to get everything to work. This project was an interesting way to learn about energy and its use in households. My favorite part was making the circuit cover because it was more complicated than just clicking together the parts of the circuit. If we had more time I wish we could've added the solar panel to create an additional and sustainable power source.

Sources:
“How Much Electricity Does a Tankless Water Heater Use?” Clean Cool Water, 21 Jan. 2022, cleancoolwater.com/how-much-electricity-does-a-tankless-water-heater-use/.

Marlin, Lisa, et al. “70 Electricity Puns You’ll Love to Read (Jokes & One-Liners).” Green Coast, 10 Mar. 2023, greencoast.org/electricity-puns/.

Marsh, Jacob. “How Many Watts Does a Light Bulb Use?” EnergySage Blog, 29 Nov. 2022, news.energysage.com/how-many-watts-does-a-light-bulb-use/#:~:text=Key%20takeaways%20about%20powering%20a,hours%20of%20electricity%20per%20year.

“Central Air Conditioners.” S, www.energystar.gov/products/central_air_conditioners.

“Clothes Washers.” ENERGY STAR, www.energystar.gov/products/clothes_washers.

“Eco-Friendly Led: Null.” Eco-Friendly LED | Philips Lighting, www.mea.lighting.philips.com/consumer/led-lights/eco-friendly-led-light.

Hand, Jamie. “Sustainable Home Appliances: Ventless Dryers.” Building Energy Resilience, buildingenergy.cx-associates.com/sustainable-ventless-dryers.

“Natural Gas - Tankless Gas Water Heaters - Tankless Water Heaters.” The Home Depot, www.homedepot.com/b/Plumbing-Water-Heaters-Tankless-Water-Heaters-Tankless-Gas-Water-Heaters/Natural-Gas/N-5yc1vZc1u0Z1z0qn5k.