Portfolio

I have been working hard for two hours to put this portfolio together. I had to make a cover page, revise my proposal, print out my collage and essential and foundational questions, print out my outline and notes, print out my interview plan, add websites and books to my work cited, and put it all together. It took a lot longer than I planned but I finally got it done.

Proposal

I had two people edit my proposal today. Mr. B helped me out and gave me a few suggestions to make it better so that I could turn it in for a grade. Then Mrs. Fossum read it while she was grading it and made a few other minor corrections before I put it in my Portfolio.

Interview Complete

I just had my interview with the Project Specialist Eemon Geary from the Green Building Alliance. He have me a lot of good information, a lot more then I thought I would get. After the interview he E-mailed me a bunch of facts and stats about Green Buildings. I also got a video from him that will be useful as well.

Proposal

I continued working on my Proposal today and finished with the first draft of it. I have to get a peer and a teacher to revise it now and I will be done with it and will be able to turn it in.

Outline Revisios

My outline was turned into Ms. Fossum and is now done.

Outline Revisions

I worked on my outline last night and today and had to revise it to make you the way that it needed to be. I had reformat the whole thing and add my work cited to it. I also had to attach my key terms and Essential and Foundational questions to it.

Proposal

I start my proposal today. The proposal is the thing that we give to the administration to see if our project idea will be rejected or accepted. There is a big checklist of things that we have to have done and edits that have to be made on it. I wrote a couple paragraphs today to give me a good start.

Action Plan

I completed my Action Plan or timeline of my project. My Action Plan is a list of tasks that I must do to complete my project on time. There are also set due dates that we must these things in by and evidence of those things being done.

Pre-Writing Questionnaire

The prewriting questionnaire was given out yesterday and due today but because I was not here yesterday I had to do it today. I got a lot of it done and will probably be able to finish it up by tomorrow.

Outline

After working on my outline over the weekend and yesterday on the day I missed school I finally got it completed. I have a few little critique to do but it is pretty much done.

Outline

today in class I was putting together the different aspects that are going to go into my computer and then starting to put them into my outline.

Interview Planning

Today in class I was compiling my resources and trying find some good question to ask Mr. Geary about green buildings. I filled out the worksheets that Mrs. Fossum has for us to fill out and make questions on.

Interview found

I finally got a interview with someone at the Green Building Alliance scheduled for Monday or Tuesday of next week. I have been trying at CCI for the past couple weeks and have emailed two people form down there but nobody answered me back. So I went to the Green Building Alliance and am going to interview Eamon Geary, who is a Project specialist for GBA.

Outline

Mrs. Fossum is having use start on are outline for our ten page research paper. She showed us how she wants it done yesterday. Today she gave us a checklist of all the tasks we need to have done and on what dates today.

Notes

For the past couple days I have been working on my notes. I have been reading a bunch of different sources that I have been visiting and getting information off of.

Notes

I continued on my notes and got the Wind Energy notes done today.

Notes

I took a lot of notes on solar panels, hydro electricity, and started som about wind energy.

Notes

For the last five days i have been researching my topic of Green Buildings and trying to answer my foundational questions. I am still in working progress to answer them all to the point were i feel i am ready to write my paper.

Green Building Glossary

Green Building Glossary

ambient lighting
Lighting in an area from any source that produces general illumination, as opposed to task lighting.

daylight factor (DF)
The ratio of daylight illumination at a given point on a given plane, from an obstructed sky of assumed or known illuminance distribution, to the light received on a horizontal plane from an unobstructed hemisphere of this sky, expressed as a percentage. Direct sunlight is excluded for both values of illumination. The daylight factor is the sum of the sky component, the external reflected component, and the internal reflected component. The interior plane is usually a horizontal workplane. If the sky condition is the CIE standard overcast condition, then the DF will remain constant regardless of absolute exterior illuminance.

Green building
The first Green Builder Program in the United States was created in 1991 in Austin, Texas. Pliny Fisk, the man behind that program defined green building or sustainable building in a most helpful way when he wrote:"Sustainability", according to Webster's American Heritage Dictionary, is to "keep in existence; maintain." As it relates to the world we live in, sustainability means meeting our present needs without compromising the needs of future generations. The sustainable approach recognizes the interaction of natural and technological systems on our planet, and seeks to minimize the adverse impacts of our everyday lives on the systems that support all life.

Sustainability implies that we look at and understand our local environment in terms of climate, natural resources, and human resources and improve our relationship with them without jeopardizing their future usefulness. Recognizing the nature of the interdependence of the human and natural environment is a key concept toward understanding sustainability. A sustainable approach encourages people to become a part of the natural flows and cycles of our world and not seeking to overpower them.


greenhouse effect
The Greenhouse Effect is a natural warming process of the earth. When the sun's energy reaches the earth some of it is reflected back to space and the rest is absorbed. The absorbed energy warms the earth's surface which then emits heat energy back toward space as longwave radiation. This outgoing longwave radiation is partially trapped by greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and water vapour which then radiate the energy in all directions, warming the earth's surface and atmosphere. Without these greenhouse gases the earth's average surface temperature would be about 33 degrees Celsius cooler.

greenhouse gases (GHG)
Some Greenhouse Gases (or GHG) occur naturally in the atmosphere, while others result from human activities. Naturally occuring greenhouse gases include water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. Certain human activities, however, add to the levels of most of these naturally occurring gases. Carbon dioxide is released to the atmosphere when solid waste, fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, and coal), and wood and wood products are burned. Methane is emitted during the production and transport of coal, natural gas, and oil. Methane emissions also result from the decomposition of organic wastes in municipal solid waste landfills, and the raising of livestock. Nitrous oxide is emitted during agricultural and industrial activities, as well as during combustion of solid waste and fossil fuels. Very powerful greenhouse gases that are not naturally occurring include hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), which are generated in a variety of industrial processes. greywaterGreywater (or Graywater) is defined as any wastewater, except in the toilet, produced from baths and showers, clothes washers, and lavatories in a home.

luminaire
A complete electric lighting unit, including housing, lamp, and focusing and/or diffusing elements; informally referred to as fixture.

mixed air
The mixture of outdoor air and return air in an HVAC system. When filtered and conditioned, mixed air becomes supply air.

radiant energy (radiation)
Energy traveling in the form of electromagnetic waves, measured in units of energy such as joules, ergs, or kilowatthours.

recycled material
Material that would otherwise be destined for disposal but is diverted or separated from the waste stream, reintroduced as material feed-stock, and processed into marketed end-products.

renewable energy
Renewable energy is an energy resource that is replaced rapidly by natural processes. Some examples of renewable energy resources are sunlight, wind, geothermal, micro scale hydropower, and wood. When you use some sunlight to warm your building, more is made almost immediately available. Water flowing in the river or creek is continually replaced by rainfall. If you chop down a tree and burn its wood in your campfire, it takes awhile for the forest to grow enough to replace that wood, but it will happen within your lifetime.

renewable energy technologies
Active, passive, and photovoltaic strategies integrated into building design.

return air
Air that has circulated through a building as supply air and has been returned to the HVAC system for additional conditioning or release from the building.

skylight
A relatively horizontal, glazed roof aperture for the admission of daylight.

solar radiation
The full spectrum of electromagnetic energy including visible light from the sun. When solar radiation strikes a solid surface or a transparent medium such as air or glass, some of the energy is absorbed and converted into heat energy, some is reflected, and some is transmitted. All three of these effects are important for effective passive solar design.

sustainable
The condition of being able to meet the needs of present generations without compromising those needs for future generations. Achieving a balance among extraction and renewal and environmental inputs and outputs, as to cause no overall net environmental burden or deficit. To be truly sustainable, a human community must not decrease biodiversity, must not consume resources faster than they are renewed, must recycle and reuse virtually all materials, and must rely primarily on resources of its own region.

tight buildings
Buildings that are designed to let in minimal infiltration air in order to reduce heating and cooling energy costs. In actuality, buildings typically exhibit leakage that is on the same order as required ventilation; however, this leakage is not well distributed and cannot serve as a substitute for proper ventilation .

Library Visit

Wednesday, May 30th we took a trip to the Main Carnegie Library in Oakland to take a tour of the place and to take out books to help us with our graduation project.

Finding the Resources

We looked up books that we were going to check out at the Main Library in Oakland tomorrow when we go there. We had to pick out two or three that related to our topics.

Essential/Foundation Questions (Final)

Essential Questions
-What are the best ways to reduce energy usage in the home?

Foundation Questions
-What is the most efficient light bulb?
-How do solar panels work?
-How effective are solar panels?
-How does hydro electric power work?
-How effective is hydro electric power?
-How does wind mill power work?
-How effective is wind power?
-How much energy does America use?
-How much energy does the world use?
-How much energy can be saved when we conserve?
-How much money can be saved?

Presentations

For the past three days we have been listening to each others presentations of our graduation projects. I went first yesterday and got some good feedback about my topic.

Essential/Foundation Questions (Contiued)

I worked on my foundational question and my ten essential questions.

Essential/Foundation Questions

On Friday i did not blog because i was had to work the entire class on my Webliography. I did get most of it done but because i was not here two days last weeks because i was on field trips. I got the weekend to finish it so i took it home and got it done. All ten MLA cited websites and all ten annotations are done.
Today we talked about what essential and foundation questions were for our project. They are questions that are going to keep are project together and help us make it the best product available. I got some questions done today and i will post the final copy or draft of them.

Webliography

Ms. Fossum started out the class today by going over a few annotations with us and showing us what good annotations look like and what bad annotations look like. Then i continued with trying to find my first ten websites that will help in my research for ways to conserve energy in your home. The once that was completed I edited my sample annotation so it could be my first annotation for my webliography. So, as of today I have one annotation done for my webliography and I have until Friday to finish the other nine.

Sample Annotation

Today I got my project idea accepted, and continued researching websites for my topic. Then the second half of class I wrote a Sample Annotation for my Webibliography.

Finished Collage

Today in class Ms. Fossum explained what we needed to do for are next step of the project which is the Webilography. I had to finish up my photoShop collage though because I was not yet finished with it.

Collage Work

In class today we worked on our collage, but i didn't finish it because i was absent yesterday and did not get a chance to work on it.

Letter Of Intent

I completed my letter of intent to Mrs. Fossum today where i gave my proposal of what my idea of making of a energy conservative house design. Then i began to get started on the next assignment of PhotoShop meets Graduation project where i have to make a visual poster of your project. Ill probably finish that by either Monday or Tuesday.

Project Links

When we got into class today Mrs. Fossum has us find three links to sites that go along with our topics and put them in our new project links for this blog. When that was complete I made sure that My Interest Inventories were in and then started my letter of intent for my Graduation Topic.

Past Projects

yesterday we heard from some seniors that told us about what they did for there projects and the challenges they faces through there project. They also told us about what the presentation is going to be like and for me that was very helpful because I had no clue what it was going to be like and now i think i will be more prepared for when it comes time for me to present.

Project Topic Selected

I finally made a decision in what i want to do my graduation project. I'm going to design my own Green House and make a model of it. And for the background research part of the project i am going to research the history of all the different ways to conserve energy.

In Class today we did the second part to the Interest Inventory where we answered question about things that we liked and wanted. Then we posted a comment on Mrs. Fossum's blog of ten topic ideas to try and help other people out that are trying to come up with there topic.

Blogging Questions

Blogging Questions

What is blogging, according to the article?
Blogging is an online journal that is updates.

How many blogs has the blog-tracking company, Technorati, counted?
2.5 million people have been tracked.

What percentage of online users read blogs, according to Jupiter Research? What reason does Richard Wiggins give for writing blogs?
4% of online users read blogs and the reason Richard Wiggins gives for writing blogs is to get things off his chest.

How does Scott Lederer justify the time he spends blogging?
Scott Lederer says that people do it because it makes you feel like you are participating in something important that everyone else is doing.

What does Jeff Jarvis mean by “the obligation to blog”?
"The addictive part is not so much extreme narcissism," Mr. Jarvis said. "It's that you're involved in a conversation. You have a connection to people through the blog."

According to Barbara Quint, what is it about blogging that makes it more attractive than cash?
The Web’s illusion of immortality is something more attractive than actual cash.

What are some of the pitfalls to frequent blogging?
You can become so addicted that it can take over your life.

First Blog 4/27/07

I set up my blog today to keep track of my progress of my graduation project. I have a few ideas of what my project is going to be about but I'm not entirely sure about it yet.

-What have you heard about the graduation project at City High? Do you know any students in 12th grade or who have already graduated that completed their projects? What were their experiences?
I haven't heard much but the things that I have heard and seen tells me it is going to be a lot of work.

-What are some interests you have that you think you might like to structure a project around? List at least three options for your project.
One idea that I have had to to construct plans to make my own green house (energy saving house) and make a model of my plans. I could do my background research on the different ways to save energy in a house. I really have not come up with any other ideas except i might want to do a project that has something to do with World War II, because that is a topic that really interests me.

-What are some of the concerns that you have about the graduation project?
I really don't have any big concerns just to find a topic right now that I would not mind researching for the next several months.