Designing a closed-loop Compost Heat Capture System that transforms chemical potential energy from organic waste into thermal energy, pre-heating campus water to drastically cut the school's electricity bills and combat energy loss.
Design Manifesto
It takes a lot of energy to heat up water, especially when kids will waste it, costing a large portion of the schools electricity bill.
We waste electrical energy by transforming it into heat, but in doing so we lose heat to entropy and the air leading to a loss of 10% to 50% energy.
People can use compost heaps and run a water pipe through it to heat it up for use in something like a shower.
Hooking this up to our water systems can help us avoid paying really anything on water heating.
The Problem
My goal is to halve our energy consumption by reducing the amount of energy we use on heating.
Our Sustainable Solution
My design is a water heating system that uses the heat generated by bacteria breaking down compost that gets transferred into our water systems, by running water pipes through and around a large compost bin so the water picks it up as it goes through the heat.
The potential risks of this design include diseases and health risks from rotting food and burns for the intense heat from the waste decomposing.
We can reduce these risks by using masks and respiratory protection when interacting with the waste and heat resistant cloths and gloves.
Operational Sequence
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System collects enough waste from to break down and create heat
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System runs water through pipes that go around or through the heap to collect heat
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The system runs the water into tanks for use by the campus
The materials needed to make a prototype for this system include a container for compost, hosing for the water to run through and a way to pump or siphon water through the prototype system.