GeoSolar

Team Members: Cody Rorick (SR EE), Timothy Seaman (SR EE), Asia Motta (SO Engineering Management), Aidan Gabriel (JR Geophysics), Mathais Callahan (SR EE)

The GeoSolar team has been working to create a pico grid which combines solar photovoltaic panels in a system with a geothermal heat pump to provide for electricity generation and heating/cooling for a home in the Houghton area. Our previous focus was to design a system proposal for the Copper Country Habitat for Humanity. We created a design, system overview, and a cost analysis which compared our system against their current natural gas and grid serviced electricity. We had the opportunity to present the system and are working to refine our system and costs in order to better match their home requirements.

Additionally, we are seeking to expand our project to match the demands of general houghton home buyers. With this, we are redesigning the system to be more generic with a range of size and consumption inputs. We will be creating a multifaceted system cost calculator which will be simple for interested consumers to take advantage of and will also be creating a three-dimensional model with the capacity to model a functional system in order to readily demonstrate the system to the public.

Fall 2020 Final Report

Fall 2020 Mid-Semester Presentation

Spring 2021 Mid-Semester Presentation

Official GeoSolar Calculator