David Gulyas

Aquaponics Greenhouse Design

Aquaponics coming to Bloomington, Indiana!  Here is a design rendering for the project.  We are currently finishing the foundation work on the 24' x 48' greenhouse, and the trusses are soon to arrive.  You can see the 900 gallon tanks in the back, and each is connected to six 4' x 8' hydroponic beds which will host a variety of greens.  Each row of six beds is connected to one tank, constituting a "node".  I haven't shown any plumbing to make a clearer image.  Each tank will grow about 1000 lbs of tilapia, ready for harvest after 7 - 9 months.  The fish effluent from the tanks will be piped to each bed, where bacteria in the gravel beds digests and oxygenates the ammonia and nitrite to nitrates, which is taken up by the plant ribosomes.  The water drains back to the tanks!  I'll be documenting the process with videos and images, so stay tuned!

Monitor Your Energy Use and Post It Online

The August issue of Wired magazine features an article by Clive Thompson on how feedback loops get people to change their habits.  As a Prius driver, I can attest to the fact that the consumption feedback monitor screen has changed our driving habits as we try to constantly increase our fuel efficiency.   

"There's already solid evidence that feedback mechanisms can change eco-behavior. ...Imagine if your daily consumption were part of your Facebook page -- and broadcast to your friends by RSS feed.  That would trigger what [Ambient Orb creator] Ambient Devices CEO David Rose calls the sentinel effect: You'd work harder to conserve so you don't look like a jackass in front of your peers.   This isn't as far-fetched as it sounds.  The design firm DIY Kyoto (as in Kyoto Protocol) recently began selling a device called the Wattson , which not only shows your energy usage but can also transmit data to a Web site, letting you compare yourself with other Wattson users worldwide."

Awesome; the power of feedback combined with the power of social networking.