2019 Class

Projects made possible in part from generous grants from the Precourt Institute for Energy, the TomKat Center, and the Haas Center for Public Service.  Thank you for your support!

Summary of the year

In this second offering of the course, 37 students participated in 9 projects in theme areas of energy and health.  We had projects coming in from Precourt Institute, Pie Ranch, University of Alaska in partnership with Stanford University.  Students explored areas of improving farming practices in India and at the Pie Ranch in Pescadero, and thermal storage for heating and cooling applications for residential (California and Texas) as well as greenhouse applications in Alaska.

The 2019 Class

Our projects

Welcome to Chili's 

Develop an ergonomic and inexpensive system for the existing chili dryer that promotes faster and more uniform drying

Red Dried Chili Peppers

Develop a passively-drying, ergonomic system for drying chilis in India, that is structurally sound and cost efficient

Water n' Spice

Recapture water vapor from drying chilis and turn it into clean drinking water

Chef Boyardee

Develop a residential heating system that uses water-based thermal storage to decouple energy generation and consumption

Piña Coolada

Provide an efficient method of storing thermal energy to heat water and cool a home in southern Texas, enabling homeowners to minimize peak power usage, cost, and carbon footprint

Chicken Pot Pie

Develop an enclosure that keeps pastured poultry in a specified area, keeps predators out, and can be easily moved in order to reduce labor time

π-ineers

Design a containment system that works with a commercial lateral move system, providing chickens with safe, regular access to fresh pasture and irrigating the freshly chicken-fertilized pasture land

Team Betty

Design a thermal energy storage system for the container farm to store energy from an existing wind turbine grid in an Alaskan village

Project provided by University of Alaska - Fairbanks and Stanford University

Hot Box

Design a stand-alone container farm with a climate controlled interior powered by water heated with renewable resources

Project provided by University of Alaska - Fairbanks and Stanford University

2019 Teaching Team