Sustainable Power for Low- and Medium Income Housing

Objective

The overall objective of this project, is to conduct research for short-term implementation of power technology for sustainable demands of low and medium income housing.

The specific objectives of the project are:

Design power management circuits and systems
Propose suitable housing layouts for integrating sustainable energy
Use of transducers producing the sustainable energy: Solar, Thermoelectric, Electromagnetic and Piezoelectric

The intellectual merit is based on the need for a unified solution of low income housing is very important. The available energy needs to be regulated to be able to use for all devices use at homes. Thus the impact will be extraordinary since covers more than 60% of the population of USA and Mexico.

The broader impacts are anticipated to be very strong and to improve regional economies since these will not use conventional power supply as through Electricity utility companies. Furthermore this proposal will impact a large population providing energy for families to have a respectable way of life with access to a sustainable energy.

Social- Social appropiation of knowledge through participative research and the diffusion of that generated knowledge.
Economic.- Availability of diverse elements to incorporate sustaintable housing, which will be affordable in economic terms, to different social strata.
Environmental.- The products to be generated will be environmental friendly with a clear focus on sustaintability.

Low income housing with sustainable energy is a binational problem between Mexico and the USA, in particular in the south of Texas, and in the Mayan regions of Yucatan. This is a very important resource for economic development in both countries, which can be translated into improved quality of life.

Some anticipated results include the engagement of a number of agencies dealing with the scientific, environmental and social improvements related to power demand. Furthermore a number of multidisciplinary technical publications are anticipated. A simple prototype verifying the feasibility of this project is also expected.