Assessment of rooftop rainwater harvesting in Ajloun, Jordan

In response to water scarcity in Ajloun governorate, Jordan, the effectiveness of implementing rooftop rainwater harvesting (RRWH) was investigated. In addition, a structured questionnaire was prepared and distributed to randomly selected residents to assess the status of the current RRWH practices in the governorate and the people's perceptions of this practice. It was found that between 0.39 million cubic meters (MCM) in a dry year (2017) and 0.96 MCM in a wet year (2018) can be harvested, which is equivalent to 7.6% and 16.8% of the domestic water supply for these years, respectively. The analysis of a total of 360 questionnaires revealed that only 14.2% of the households in Ajloun governorate own a RRWH system. However, the majority, 80.6%, of those who do not own a RRWH system showed interest in installing one. An overwhelming majority of the sample, 96.7%, believes that the government should provide incentives to subsidize the construction of RRWH systems, which is attributed to the high initial cost of these systems. The technical and social feasibilities of RRWH, in addition to the high cost of the alternatives, justifies providing incentives, such as cost sharing for the consumers in Ajloun to implement RRWH systems.

Scintillating thermal neutron detectors for cosmic ray soil moisture monitoring

Cosmic Ray Neutron Sensing (CRNS) is a powerful technique that allows non-invasive monitoring of soil moisture on length scales well matched for agricultural applications. One factor limiting the use of the technique within industrial agriculture settings is the high initial cost of Helium-3 or BF3 tubes typically used for ground level neutron monitoring. This paper discusses the use of Geant4 to design and optimise an alternative scintillator based epi-thermal neutron detector that may be applicable for challenges where cost is a higher driving factor than temporal resolution.

A Technical Review on Reliability and Economic Assessment Framework of Hybrid Power System with Solar and Wind Based Distributed Generators

Recent years have witnessed an upsurge in the penetration of solar and wind power. This can be chiefly attributed to worldwide climate concern and inclination towards low carbon sources. Owing to their abundant availability, solar and wind sources are projected to play a key part in de-carbonization of power sector. However, the variability of these sources and high initial cost pose a major challenge in their deployment. Thus, reliability and economic assessment is imperative to hybrid power system(HPS) with solar and wind integration. This paper tenders a survey on different aspects involved in reliability and economic assessment of HPS. Various techniques employed in uncertainty modelling of climatological parameters like solar irradiance and wind velocity have been deliberated. A detailed discussion on reliability evaluation parameters as well as techniques along with their merits and demerits has been carried out. In order to impart a sense of extensiveness to review, a discussion on economic evaluation metrics has also been presented. Further, author’s critical comments on review along with suggestions for possible research avenues has also been presented. The review presented in this paper is envisioned to facilitate a comprehensive guide towards evaluation of solar and wind energy based HPS.

Impact of cage culture in reservoir on the livelihood of fishers: A case study in Jharkhand, India

Cage fish farming in Indian reservoirs has the potential to enhance the reservoir production manifold. The present study estimated that around 14,000 cages have been installed in different reservoirs of the country which are producing around 16% of the current reservoir fish production. Around 7.5 lakh mandays of labour are being generated by cage fish farming in the country. An empirical study in the state of Jharkhand State found that the adoption of cage culture contributed around 30% to the livelihood of fishers. Cage culture not only increased monthly family income but also reduced the occupational migration. The fishermen households who adopted cage farming also accumulated some durable assets due to improvement in household income. However, high initial cost of cage culture operation, high feed cost and low market price of cultured pangas fish (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) were some of the major constraints in adopting the technology as reported by the fishers. The study recommends that the state departments need to promote the use of low cost galvanised iron(GI) cages designed by the ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute (ICAR-CIFRI) in reservoirs which may play a significant role in fulfilling the vision of blue revolution in the country.

IOT Power Theft Identification and Monitoring

Now a days we can’t imagine today’s life without electricity, almost all the things, equipment and appliances we are using in day to day life are using ELECTRIC power to run smoothly. Ever since the advent of electricity it has become an integral part of our life. Solar energy is the alternative but is has some limitations like environmental changes, high initial cost etc. In todays present world every little appliance works on electricity from the electric toothbrush to huge motors. So from rural to urban and from domestic to industrial areas the use of electricity is increased but with the power theft hand in hand. Using IOT based power theft identification and monitoring a system can find the dishonest user by identifying the status of energy meter at the back end of power office.

Design and Fabrication of Semi Automatic Coconut Copra Electric Dryer

In India Coconut is the major plantation crop in the states of Tamilnadu, kerala, Karnataka, Kongan region of Maharastra and Andaman and Nicobar Islands for entire seasons. Copra is the major product from the coconut cultivation earning higher income of small and medium livelihoods. The approval of copra quality is mainly based on how well the copra got dried. Open drying or other conventional methods is the major process of making copra. In adverse weather condition, rainy season the drying process will be very challenging. Many dryers are made and used currently was affordable to medium and large scale copra producers. Those dryers also having limitations in size, high initial cost and nature dependency. There is very few attempt made for Small and individual household copra producers. This paper mainly focuses on how to dry-up the copra in all climate conditions. An electric handy dryer is designed to dry up the coconut copra and other grains. It mainly helps the small scale farmers as a handy dryer unit to dry-up the copra, those who are using coconut as a way of income. Based on the experiments conducted the electric dryer removed high moisture content than forced convection and direct sun dryers.

Smart Street Lighting Detecting Vehicle and Pedestrian Movement Aiming for Sustainable Bhutan

An energy crisis is global issue nowadays. Bhutan however, does not realize it being blessed with good geographical and demographical diversity. It is high time that Bhutan realize the need of energy conservation technique. The electrical energy is wasted unnecessarily which starts from keeping the mobile charger plugged in the socket when not in use to lamps keeping ON in streets throughout day and night. People don’t seem to care but monitoring it for better conservation benefit has become crucial in underdeveloped countries like Bhutan whose source of energy is limited to hydropower only. Wind and solar generations are feasible but the energy cost per unit would be very high due to high initial cost. A case study conducted within the college campus revealed tremendous savings a college can make just by replacing conventional compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) with light emitting diode (LED). Therefore, the best option for Bhutan and Bhutanese people is to take better care of the existing energy sources and use it judiciously. This paper proposes a method to monitor and control the street/compound lighting in a smarter way. The two types of sensors are employed. The light dependent resistor (LDR) is used to monitor the intensity or brightness of surrounding and passive infrared (PIR) sensor is employed for detecting infrared source. The sensor output is processed and monitored by the PIC16F877A microcontroller. Moreover, the incandescent lamp and the compact fluorescent lamp will be replaced by LED lamps. The project aims to reduce power consumption in Bhutan through proposer control of street/compound lighting so as to have better economy of the country by exporting more unit of energy to neighboring country.

Powering Options of the Un-electrified Sub-villages around Bali through Adoption of Renewable Generation Scheme

Bali has seen relatively rapid infrastructure development to support its status as the main tourist destination in Indonesia. This has transformed the island into a province that enjoys good economy thus achieves relatively good living standard for most of its population. However, some villages in Bali are still without access to electricity due to reasons associated with topography of the villages in which they are mostly located in high mountainous area or deep in the valleys. Such topographical characteristic has hindered the expansion of utility’s grid due to high initial cost and less attractive energy sales in the village. Meanwhile, world has recognized that electricity is a necessary support for achieving many of the millennium development goals that set to improve the quality of human life. Moreover, our constitutional mandates stipulate that earth, water and any resources thereof should be utilized to benefit our citizen irrespective of geographical and topographical condition of their location. The research reported here is the result of investigation on the current status of un-electrified sub-villages around Bali. Based on our research, the amount of power required to electrify those areas is less than two megawatt. Solutions to provide electricity to the affected area are discussed. Discussion includes the availability of local resources such as natural, social and human resources available in those areas in view of developing locally managed energy plants. Renewable generation technology such as solar photovoltaic, microhydro and wind turbine is discussed in order

Effect of Geosynthetic Reinforcement on Strength Behaviour of Weak Subgrade Soil

The performance of flexible pavement depends mainly on the subgrade soil characteristics as it serves as a foundation for pavement. Roads constructed over poor subgrade soil fails frequently leading to heavy economic burden apart from high initial cost of construction. In order to overcome these problems soil reinforcement technique has to be adopted. The use of geosynthetic material is a new and emerging technique and is gaining importance due to cost and time saving apart from less environmental sensitive nature. In the present study an attempt has been made to make use of non-woven geotextile and biaxial geogrid in various combinations. The geogrid was placed above geotextile, both in layers from the top of mold and heavy compaction, soaked CBR and unconfined compressive strength (UCS) tests were performed. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images indicate significant bonding between soil particles and geogrid surface.

BRIEF OF BUILDING INFORMATION MODELLING FOR INDONESIAN ARCHITECTURE

Building information modelling (BIM) is a system that integrates multi-dimensional aspects of construction project at every phase. Simply said BIM unified all project databases from and to all stakeholders. This system still continuously developed and widely spread on each countries construction projects. In architecture, the BIM has been revolute the human resource requirements on the projects. Indonesia as developing country is still performing transitions from large worker project into more compact projects; from centralized projects into decentralized project. The BIM system has been a mandatory in several Indonesia big infrastructure projects to plan, simulate, design and deliver databases for making more quick decision making and improve the facilities. This paper aim is describing the benefit-challenge factors of BIM adoption on Indonesia architecture projects and the potential driving factors of BIM application. This study was qualitative paradigm with analysis method of selected literatures and previous research paper review which stratified by the cases. The results of this study are BIM bring the high efficiency and represent the complete skills for an architect. However the high initial cost of technology and human investment, the unsupported regulation and conventional system resistant challenged the Indonesia architecture society to adopt BIM. Furthermore the Indonesia architecture education is still struggling to learn and teach the BIM as an integral part in studio as the agent of change.