Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

High Tech High Touch: Lessons Learned From Project Haiti 2011, Yan Tang, Marc Compere, Yung Lun Wong, Jared Anthony Coleman, Matthew Charles Selkirk

Marc Compere

In this paper, we will share our experiences and lessons learned from a design project for providing clean water to a Haitian orphanage (Project Haiti 2011). Supported by funds from a renewable energy company and the university president’s office, five engineering students and two faculty members from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University successfully designed and installed a solar powered water purification system for an orphanage located in Chambellan, Haiti. This paper discusses the unique educational experiences gained from unusual design constraints, such as ambiguity of existing facilities due to limited communication, logistics of international construction at a remote village location, and cross-cultural …

A Data Envelopment Analysis Model For Renewable Energy Technology Selection, Elif Kongar, Kurt A. Rosentrater

Kurt A. Rosentrater

Public and media interest in alternative energy sources, such as renewable fuels, has rapidly increased in recent years due to higher prices for oil and natural gas. However, the current body of research providing comparative decision making models that either rank these alternative energy sources and/or determine the best possible alternatives is still limited. This paper aims at filling this gap by proposing a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model structure for ranking energy source alternatives under varying circumstances. The model considers both the economics of energy sources and additional environmental criteria such as CO2 emissions and damage cost. Numerical examples …

Modeling The Effects Of Value-Added Processing And Logistics Using Arena, Kurt A. Rosentrater, Elif Kongar

Kurt A. Rosentrater

Scarcity and cost of nonrenewable fossil fuels have been a growing focus of many energy-dependent nations, including the U.S., for the past couple of decades. There are mainly two ways to approach these problems: (1) reducing the energy dependency and/or (2) developing alternative means of energy production. Utilizing biofuels, which are renewable sources of energy, is a promising way to produce energy. But, as this industry grows, so too does the quantity of byproducts, which are known as DDGS. This paper discusses a model that has been developed to analyze the economic viability of DDGS processing, and includes both deterministic …

Catalyzing Mass Production Of Solar Photovoltaic Cells Using University Driven Green Purchasing, Joshua M. Pearce

Joshua M. Pearce