Tag Archives: Temperature

Earthquake Resistant and Energy Efficient Homes - PAKSBAB

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After the devastating earthquake of 2005 which destroyed nearly half a million rural homes in Pakistan, there was an urgent need to build earthquake-resistant homes. Thus came into being PAKSBAB which is the short form of Pakistan Straw Bale and Appropriate Buildings. So far PAKSBAB, from its limited resources, has build 27 homes in northern parts of Pakistan. These homes have been built using indigenous resources and by training the local people in the construction of straw bale houses with wooden exteriors, although the problem with this is the mold, but is when services like Mold Remediation Toms River can solve all these issues. PAKSBAB has also partnered with scaffolding companies, Including highway road sites, such as https://www.whiteliningcontractors.co.uk/warehouses/walkway.  Moreover, PAKSBAB has partnered with industrial coating contractors to ensure the durability and longevity of the constructed homes.

A typical straw bale house has an area of 576 square feet and costs $3000 on average. This turns out to be $5.2/square foot which is less than half the cost of brick-and-mortar houses. A typical home comprises of two rooms, a verandah, and a kitchen and requires around 1200 hours of labor. So 6 people working for 8 hours daily can construct a straw bale house in 25 days, while if you're building a house and you want to add a luxury staircase you can get a service of staircase builders to help you with this. Additionally, PAKSBAB recognizes the importance of versatile structures, such as indoor riding arena, to further meet the diverse needs of the community and enhance the overall impact of its efforts. For fire safety, it's essential to engage intumescent painting contractors to ensure adequate protection against potential hazards.

The main advantages of straw bale houses over brick and mortar houses are highlighted below.

1. Energy efficiency, since straw is a good insulator

2. Non toxic products are used (light straw, clay and wood)

3. Cheap materials are used resulting in a cost that is half that of a regular house

4. Resistant to earthquakes

Energy Efficient House

Tightly packed walls and a gravel weighted foundation creates better weather-proofing

 

Energy Efficient House

Twice as energy efficient as a conventional house, straw bale makes for environmentally friendly earthquake-proof homes

Energy Efficient House

Clay-plaster reinforced, a fabricated straw bale house costs half the expenses of modern building for every square foot

Construction of these energy efficient and earthquake resilient homes are built using Small Scale Piling Equipment and locally manufactured compression moulds. Mini piling is more suitable than traditional methods when it comes to areas with poor ground conditions where soil excavation and removal could otherwise cause issues, since they can still create a stable, even framework where traditional piling is no longer viable. Furthermore the local industry is being encouraged to get GPR services for accurate mapping before starting these projects. Additional appropriate building methods that PAKSBAB is promoting include passive solar, rainwater catchment, solar lamps, high-efficiency cooking and heating. If you need to strengthen your home's foundation, think about exploring new solutions and hiring foundation repair St. Catharines.

Solar Cell Temperature and Efficiency

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It is a common misconception that the higher the temperature higher is the output of the solar cell. This is not true as the efficiency of a solar cell decreases with an increase in temperature and lower efficiency results in lower output power. So in fact, a bright sunny day, with sun rays perpendicular to the solar panel and cool weather is the ideal combination for higher performance of a solar panel.

Let us now look at this in a bit more detail. There are two basic reasons for the decrease in efficiency due to the increase in temperature.  One is the decrease in the band gap energy (Eg) and the other is the decrease in open circuit voltage (Voc) with the increase in temperature. The relationship between band gap energy and temperature is quite straightforward and is given as.

E_{g} = E_{g}(0)-\genfrac{}{}{1}{0}{\alpha T^2}{T+\beta}

Band Gap Parameters

One might argue that the decrease in the band gap would allow for more carriers to be transferred to the conduction band and yield a higher output power. However, this is not true as the output power is the product of current and voltage and a lower voltage would reduce the power. In fact, there is an ideal range of band gap which produces the maximum energy. Going too high or too low would not yield the optimum results.

Next, we turn our attention to the open circuit voltage Voc. The relationship between temperature and open circuit voltage is not that straightforward. At first, it might seem the open circuit voltage increases with the increase in temperature as shown in the expression below.

V_{oc} = \genfrac{}{}{1}{0}{k_{B} T}{e} ln \biggl[1+\genfrac{}{}{1}{0}{J_{L}}{J_{s}}\biggr]

But in reality, this is not the case. An increase in temperature results in an increase in intrinsic carrier concentration ni  which in turn results in higher reverse bias saturation current Js. There is a squared relationship here so an increase in intrinsic carrier concentration would cause a very large increase in reverse bias saturation current. And as is evident from the above formula this causes a decrease in open circuit voltage. This is also shown in the figure below.

Voc and Temperature

So to conclude a bright sunny morning in winter might not be the worst time to produce some solar energy (provided you have got your solar panel tilt right 🙂 ).