The Tiny Research Station is more than an ecology lab... it's a living lab too! What's that? Thanks for asking. Professor William Mitchell of the MIT Media Lab defines a living lab as:
"A research methodology for sensing, prototyping, validating and refining complex solutions in multiple and evolving real-life contexts”
And we define our living lab as:
"a place where students can learn about modeling, prototyping, and refining solutions in the context of a space that is in active use."
So what does this have to do with you? Well, if you're a Dartmouth student, or faculty or staff member, this lab is for you! A huge part of this project for our original team was to make this a resource for the rest of campus to continue experiential learning. What might this look like? Well, really that's up to you, but in case you'd like a little help getting the creative juices flowing, a few project suggestions we have are:
Comparing Calculated vs Live Data: Monitors in the station track temperature and energy production data. One project could be comparing calculated and/or modeled energy and/or temperature data with cataloged data from these monitors. Or add more monitors, if you're interested in other data. And this doesn't have to be all about energy or building science– you could monitor the humidity at the Second College Grant, or the rainfall, or whatever you'd like!
Add a Rooftop Water Collection System: Water collection and/or treatment on site is an important part of many green building standards. The original Tiny Team didn't feel we had enough bandwidth to focus on the way the TRS interacts with its local watersheds, but we think that implementing a rainwater collection system could be cool, especially if the water could be used to mop the floor, or something like that.
Flip the Building to Measure Solar Heat Gain: One of our first thoughts in designing the window placement was that because of the TRS's mobility, it could be flipped at different times of year to optimize solar gain– models say this would have an impact on the building's heat load, but it would be interesting to be able to actually measure that impact...
Create a Model of the Tiny Research Station: Once there's some solid data on the TRS's performance, and maybe with the addition of a few more monitors, a more realistic model than our spreadsheet could be made to predict the building's heat loss, energy, use, etc, using real, measured parameters.
Of course, we also encourage anyone interested to propose their own TRS project! Getting involved is super easy: fill out this google form, which will be reviewed by Professor Vicki May. You'll work with her and Tim McNamara of FO&M to approve and prepare, and then carry out, your project.
To be clear, you don't have to create a project in order to visit and otherwise interact with the station. Check out our energy and temperature data monitoring systems, and fill out the form linked above if you'd like to arrange a visit to the TRS (for yourself, or a student and/or faculty group, or class) while it's in Hanover for the winter.
Finally, if you do work on the TRS in some capacity, please be sure to update the website (talk with Professor May about how to do this) to share your experience and forward the goal of the living lab!