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The Watree Will Collect The Rain Water and Used During The Summer

TheFuture — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:07:45 +0000

The new rain water harvesting and sports stadium storage design by Australian designer Chris Buerckner can be said to be innovative product in all respects. He has named it as Watree which looks like an umbrella placed upside down also acts as a shade in the rain. The rain water gets accumulated and is stored in it tank underground as these can be placed on areas away from the playing surface, the water stored can be used to sustain the stadium during the summer months through series of underground pipes. A practical and a self sufficient solution in these crunching times!

Text from Chris :
Over the last few years it has become more apparent just how susceptible our country is to the ever changing climate. Throughout each of the eastern states of Australia we have seen continual diminishing rainfalls which have in turn brought on increasing water restrictions with the thinning water storage levels. The consequences of these climate changes are only just beginning to be felt by the general public. One of these areas is grass roots level sporting communities. This research/design based project explores the challenges these sporting communities face and how certain strategies may be used to combat these climate changes. The aim of this project was to further develop water conservation strategies within the sporting environment and design a device and system that would be used in the collection and storage of rain water.

The Watree concept is for urban sporting grounds, and based around the idea that almost all of these reserves have buffer zones around them. A buffer zone is more common around ovals due to their shape, but can be found around tennis clubs and soccer pitches as well.

A buffer zone is essentially an area of land around these sporting reserves, unused. Often they are just grassed areas or areas dotted with a few unsightly shrubs, sometimes used as car parks. These buffer zones do not provide any particular use to these sporting organizations and when rain falls, its seeps straight into the ground. I propose using these buffer areas as location points for open air rain water collection.

The Watree concept is to have a number of these points around an oval, with the collection unit to be in the centre of these buffer zone areas. The idea is for these devices to open up when it rains and create a large surface area that would then collect and funnel the rain either into storage directly beneath it, or along a pipeline to a central tank storage for the ground. The water would pass through a filter accessible from outside of the Watree structure on its way to storage. This water, previously wasted, would be stored and used during summer periods to keep the sports surface in a playable condition. Combined with a playing surface converted to warm season grasses, a large storage tank would be a suitable amount of storage for weekly watering of the field over summer. In the case of a tennis club for example, smaller tanks and water collection would be required dependent on the number of grassed and clay courts.

The watering system to be utilized is KISSS (http://www.kisss.com.au/). KISSS has been developed, and is manufactured by, an Australian company called Irrigation & Water Technologies Pty Ltd (IWT) at Rouse Hill, NSW. There are parts of the project still to be refined as well as the development of a community water donation system. Currently I’m assessing the project and the possibility of Government grants from the Smart Water Fund (http://www.smartwaterfund.com.au) for further development.

Designer : Chris Buerckner

Algaster Harvesting Robot for Future Agriculture

TheFuture — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 08:06:45 +0000

Here comes an amazing alga harvesting system designed to bring advancement in future Agriculture. Algaster is a harvesting machine with the capacity to harvest 100kg of alga and it stores the loan in ten containers attached on the upper side. The unit is less powerful but is created with more intelligent ideas. The shape of the unit is similar to an insect with four legs. Algae are used for energy production due to the high level of oil content. Algaster helps in the process of water cleaning in polluted areas where algae expansion may go beyond normal conditions. Once the unit stops its storage process then a hot-air-balloon brings it on the surface.

Some description from the designer :
Algaster uses algae for biomass production, because of their high oil content (several energetic industries are taking this into account from spain to japan). At the same time it provides eutrophic water cleaning (creating energy from pollution, in a way).
The system is composed by several machines, as needed (it could be used in sea water as well as in lakes). Every machine is independent (controlled by a GPS system and driven by robotic legs so it doesn’t destroy the underwater ecosystem) and acting as unit of an insect swarm.

Every unit harvests algae, cut them in little pieces (to make them dry out sooner) and treat them with UV rays (this way sterilizing algae’s spores). Then the load is stored in nets (contained in ten sliding boxes in the back of the machine). When the net is full with treated algae, an inflatable structure closes it and brings it on surface. When every net is full, an inflatable structure brings the machine on surface too. Power supply is provided by solar cells, on the back. In this way, while in the surface without net-containing boxes, it fully recharges. Every machine can harvest a 100kg load every day (10kg every net), a 10 machine system can harvest 1ton of algae!

Designer : Stefano Pertegato, Philipp Frank, Marco Nicoletti, Francesco Schiraldi, Eloisa Tolu

T.E.D. – Transportable Emergency Dwelling

TheFuture — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 08:34:05 +0000

The new housing design by U.S. based student Craig Mackiewicz is known as the Transportable Emergency Dwelling. It is simply a house built within the footprint of a shipping container and is a unique solution to low cost housing. Each container can easily accommodate two families with scope for extending the space by pulling the compartments and tents. Also each unit has basic utilities required for a normal family daily needs like kitchen, bathroom, storage space etc.The designer has also kept in mind the rain water harvesting by keeping a slant roof having a capacity to conserve 350 gallons of water; even the solar energy is conserved to provide electricity. So all in all, it’s a unique solution for tomorrow’s housing needs.

T.E.D. (Transportable Emergency Dwelling) is a product which takes advantage of two systems to solve a global problem. The world has an incredibly advanced transportation infrastructure which allows product to move from country to country with relative speed and efficiency. Emergency housing is needed globally so why not use that infrastructure to our advantage. To optimize the shipping of these housing units they must fit within the footprint of the most widely used shipping containers. Each housing unit is self sustaining in the correct conditions, meaning it can collect water and create energy through solar panels. One shipping container can house two families of 4 people comfortably. It can be expanded to fit more. Once these units are done being used, they may be shipped back to their origin for restoration and refurbishment for their next adventure.

Designer : Craig Mackiewicz