Research for Solar Hot Water Systems
In our last article, we touched on the valuable contribution of Solar E to the research carried out at Murdoch University in the School of Engineering. Garry Baverstock holds the position of Adjunct Professor at the School and has held discussions with the School’s Head regarding creating a niche market on research for solar hot water systems and new generation solar air conditioners. This is an area where other main stream Universities are not focusing, any resources at present.
An outcome that will arise in this current work at Murdoch University will be to collaborate with some of the bigger University’s Schools of Engineering and expand research into more viable products. This could be a catalyst for some undergraduate studies being set up at Murdoch, particularly in building services engineering with the possibility of setting up a small School of Mechanical Engineering that will focus on and advance practical solutions in solar systems and air conditioners.
Solar Water Heaters
The next three years will see Wise Earth writing papers on the effectiveness and efficiency of mainstream solar water heaters; their real economics and how much greenhouse gases they actually save. Wise Earth has donated its data base from Solar Kleen, a business it ran for a couple of years. This real data together with generic data from the Clean Energy Council will apply Monte Carlo Analysis; a technique using distribution curves that can infer and project results using limited data; that can be used for further research on solar water heating and energy.
Masters of Building Services Engineering
Murdoch University has a long history of Photo Voltaic research which is on-going and this is working towards the creation of a Masters of Building Services Engineering. With Garry being an adjunct Professor and also in the business in this field with Wise Earth; specific projects can be generated for the Masters and PhD studies and encourage other Universities to do the same.
Photo Credits: Nick Melidonis, www.nickmelidonis.com