July 28, Friday
Khaled Essam Hosny AhmedWe have the who, why, and where. Now we need the what and how. What could possibly solve these issues We’ve been provided insights in each interview into some examples from some of the people with the highest expertise in the field, and have organized that information into CCPs and POV statements to understand further what they need. Now we need to tailor according to their needs with the features and solutions to combat their issues.
How can refugees produce their own energy?
http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2016/ph240/lange1/
The Stanford study above shows, following some calculations for biking energy output that “Stanford undergraduates could collectively harvest over 160kW each week”.
Now if we apply this to refugees:
A center with 14,000 refugees, coming in to bike 15 minutes a day with specific time slots, would produce 320kW at an average biking pace, far more than enough to power the facility for 1 day (given that the average American house uses 30kW per day, and the facility would have low and efficient energy output).
If it were applied to an extent where they biked for more than 15 minutes, or it was more than 14,000 refugees, or at higher than the average biking pace, then the benefits would be far more significant.
98% of pee can be turned into sanitary drinkable water: https://www.marca.com/en/lifestyle/us-news/2023/06/27/649a14d622601d131a8b45aa.html
This could be especially relevant when considering the water filtration process and making it more circular and involving more necessary facilities that use or involve water.
How can we preserve heat and cold during harsh climates?
Regardless of the season, weather conditions on the southern border could be harsh. As they tend to get really cold during winter, and obviously really warm in the summer.
- Cold weather conditions: https://www.nrc.no/shorthand/stories/winter-storms-hit-displaced-syrians/index.html
- Hot weather conditions: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/7/16/exhausting-heatwave-exacerbates-hardship-for-syrian-refugees
Various solutions that can tackle this issue include:
- Straw Bales —> More adequate for walling
- Straw is the dried stalks of cereal plants, typically left over after removing grain and chaff. Wheat straw is the most common type of straw, for example.
- Straw bales can be stacked/stuffed into the inner lining of the walls of the housing units. To do so, these straw bales should be compressed to be sandwiched within the wall. Moreover, depending on the season, they should be compressed densely enough to preserve heat/cold.
- Straw Bales are readily available from farming land and pastures in southern Turkey.
- Adobe Bricks —> More adequate as a flooring material, could be used for the walls as well.
- They are building bricks made of a mix of sand, straw, clay, and water. The materials needed for the mix are readily available in neighboring cities and farm villages.
- Adobe Bricks can be a better alternative to use relative to conventional building brick from a cost and dual-functionality perspective.
- Cost-wise, the materials needed to form these bricks are low compared to other alternatives, i.e. cement building blocks.
- Moreover, such bricks provide good insulation to the living environment. This is the case regardless of the prevailing weather condition. Because of their physical and chemical properties, they can absorb sun heat all day and release it during nighttime when temperatures tend to get lower, keeping the occupant comfortable inside.
- The other function fulfilled by Adobe Bricks is structure durability and strength. Due to their composition, these bricks provide the building with better structural integrity.
