Assignment 3 – ReVisiting NYC : Energy Systems

The energy system above represents a four hour block during a typical summer day in New York City for me.  The four hour block stands from the late afternoon into the nighttime on a typical weekday.  My late afternoons would typically involve me getting work done at my job, getting out around 6:00 pm and taking the train home, eating and then going to the gym, coming back home to shower and relax for the rest of the evening.

There are numerous ways in which I could end up affecting this system in a way that changes my consumption of energy.  During the summer time, our apartment will usually have our two small air conditioner units on full blast in attempt to keep the apartment comfortable.  This would lead to a large consumption of energy because there is no central a/c unit (which is typical of New York), and so certain spaces of the apartment that are far away from the small a/c units take a long time to cool down.  More time means more energy being used to cool down the space.  These buildings also have low insulation, due to their age, and so heat more easily enters the apartment.  One way in which I could affect this large energy consumption is simply by turning off the air conditioners during the day, while blocking the sunlight from entering through any windows.  At the same time, instead of spending time inside the apartment, spend more time outside until the sun is down.  This would lead to less use of energy by the a/c units, because during the nighttime the earth is already supposed to be cooler, and thus requiring less time for the a/c units to cool certain spaces (since less heat is leaking into the apartments).  Not only that, but during the nighttime I would be going to sleep, requiring the a/c units to only cool down the bedrooms (where they are located) as opposed to the rooms that are further away from them.  Furthermore, the addition of blinds that keep the sun out would help to keep heat radiation out of the apartment.  All of this leads to less energy consumption by Air Conditioning individually, by the space, and as a result on the overall energy grid.

Another way I could affect energy consumption is by reducing my use of appliances at the gym.  Instead of going to the gym and using the treadmill to run, I could just run around the neighborhood parks.  This would basically reduce my use of energy at the gym to only lighting and cooling from when I go to lift weights.  In terms of my diagram it would take away a further division of the diagram that has some energy consumption and energy waste.  In terms of the space, I would be one less person at the gym which would equal to less radiated heat in that space.  Logically then, it would require less energy to maintain that space cool, which means I would reduce the energy use of the gym’s a/c central unit.  However that change would probably not have a great effect.  Perhaps by suggesting to the gym that they should check  their window systems could be a better approach, since that gym has large windows that typically doesn’t keep the sun’s heat out very well.

One final way in which I could affect this system would be to ride a bike home, as opposed to take the train, for the same reasons I would not use a treadmill and instead run outside.

 

 

Resources: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cures/Guy%20Sliker.pdf

Microclimates : NYC

During our studio trip to New York this weekend, I decided to go by one of my favorite spots in the city – Columbus Circle.  For some reason I have always been attracted to the views of the different high rise buildings and skyscrapers; the monumental column at the intersection of 59th street and 8th avenue, and the sounds of the crushing water from the fountain that surrounds it; the view into the park, and down the streets into the horizon.  They just always made me appreciate a different part of the city.  However going back on this trip I was able to interpret this corner in a new way.  As I was walking uptown along 8th avenue, I noticed the temperature and climate were absolutely amazing.  The temperature may have been between 77 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit, making for perhaps one of the most comfortable nights in New York city during the fall season.  When I hit 59th street I decided to walk across the street and into the exterior space where the Column monument to Columbus stands, right in the middle of an Italian like Roundabout intersection.  As soon as I entered that space, I immediately fell the temperature change from the high 70s into what I think was the high 60s.  In fact, it was this immediate chill that made me realize how comfortable the city was in the first place.  I decided to keep on heading north, cross the street, and head on into the park.  Again I felt the changing temperatures.  As I crossed the street I felt warm breezes of that comfortable air I was in a few minutes ago.  Yet as soon as I stepped onto the sidewalk, I started to feel that chill again from the middle of the roundabout.  Interestingly enough, the further I walked into the park the colder it got, until the temperature hit a constant that I assumed was around the low 60s.

The most interesting part about this experience is the fact that I had never actually paid attention to these changes.  Not even after using the subway station on the same block for four years of high school, or walking in the neighborhood almost every day for work during the past three summers.  It took me an introduction of micro-climates to make me sensible about such changes, and to make me question what other areas in New York have these similar effects.  The rest of the night I just kept on noticing the micro-climatic changes around me, in as much detail as the probable five degree difference between the kitchen in my apartment, and my parents bedroom.  It definitely made for a new perspective and a new experience the city.  One that made me more aware of the conditions that had existed around me for most of my life.

After noticing these changes, my mind went into a rapid-fire mental rampage as to why these changes happened.  Was it because of heat island effects? Because the pavement was so heated up in the day that it was radiating heat during the night?  Because the water in the roundabout, or the trees of Central Park, cooled the air? Because of the cars that were still roaming the streets?  Or was it all of these elements creating one huge system of sensory effects?  I just couldn’t make my mind up and decided to just intake the experience, and move on into the train station.

‘Experience to Blog another day!

Assignment 2 – Bay Game : Bay Regulator

1.  In my previous post, I had talked about my role as a Bay Policy Maker and how I affected the health stock of the bay.  In this assignment, I tried to expand on that and further explore the balancing loops of this system.  I had failed to realize in my previous diagram that the fish population was part of more than one balancing loop.  I had pointed out that the fish population affects the decisions of the policy maker, which in turn affects the watermen’s decision of how much to fish, which in turn had an effect on the fish population.  This was a reinforcing loop because a constant fish population reinforced constant fishing amount and good fishing methods.  However, I also realized that the fish population affects the bay health and its micro ecosystems, which in turn affects the fish population (i.e. an unhealthy bay would most likely lead to a low fish population).  Thus, a balancing loop that I hadn’t seen before emerged.  Even more so, an unhealthy bay would lead to less edible fish, which affects the fishermen’s economic standing.

I also realized that there was an economic balancing loop that in a way affected the bay’s health.  I knew that human fish demand affected how much fish the fishermen wanted to catch.  I had failed to notice before, however, that the sales prices the watermen placed on fish also affected the human population demand for fish.  The sales price would be affected by the demand from the human population.  The human demand for fish would, in turn, have an effect on the amount of fish the fishermen need to catch, and on the revenue they would make from fish.  According to how much fish they need catch, the bay health gets affected.

2.  Throughout the entire gameplay I was constantly learning something new about my role as a Bay Policy Maker or Regulator.  Initially I had thought that it was my job to make sure that the fishermen were making as much money as possible.  I didn’t place a cap on the amount of fish a fisherman could catch, or the number of days they could fish.  Soon I realized that my job was to regulate the Bay’s health, rather than provide for the fishermen.  That’s because the fishermen’s economic standing was not so much in my control, as it was in the control of the population and its demand for fish.  I realized that as a policy maker, the game wasn’t about how much fish I allowed the watermen to catch, or how long they were allowed to fish.  Rather it was about how much the watermen wanted to fish and for how long.  According to their decisions (their choice of fishing methods, how many fish to catch, etc.) affected the phosphorus and nitrogen levels of the bay, I responded with policies that would maintain the bay health at a decent level.  This realization came into the game play when I decided to not put a cap on fish or fishing days.  Somehow, the fish population managed to rise during that 4 year time period of the gameplay.  This made me react because I realized that a rising fish population could be as depleating for the ecosystems within the bay, just as much as a falling fish population.

3.  In this part of the system, just like any other system, an opportunity exists to create oscillations within the fish population of the bay.  This opportunity rises when the fish population is high, while the demand for fish is low.  This is a problematic situation because what happens is that the fish population will continue to rise in a way that will affect the micro ecosystems of the bay.  Eventually there would be enough fish to deplete their own food source, which in turn would deplete the fish population itself.  Now, imagine that at the time in which the fish population is declining, the demand for fish rises.  As a bay regulator, one would try to slow down the declining population of fish by putting a cap on the amount of fish a fisherman can catch, or decreasing the amount of days a fisherman can be out at sea.  This would (hopefully) lead to an increase in fish population, but at the same time would lead to an even greater demand for fish.  When there are enough fish, the bay regulator would, logically, be compelled to open up the fishing days and increase the fishing cap in order to attend to the demand situation.  This would lead to even more fish being caught, a depletion of fish at a faster rate, and thus the beginning of an oscillation trend.  The fish population would deplete, a cap would be put on, when the population rises, the cap would come off and the cycle keeps going.

Interestingly enough though, what keeps this cycle alive is the human population demand for fish.  The only thing the bay regulator can do is manage the fish population, as well as the bay health, and react to this human population demand.  But perhaps the bay regulator can in fact affect the demand in an indirect way, by imposing a seemingly illogical strategy.  If he tried to maintain the cap on fishing and fishing days, then demand would most likely continue to rise, which would make watermen increase their sale prices in order to get the most from their demand.  This decision would, however, eventually lead to a drop in demand because fish prices would simply become too high.  A drop in demand would allow for the system to return back to a manageable equilibrium.