OUROBOROS SOUTH & OUROBOROS EAST

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In addition to recycling some of the water which passes through the kitchen, student teams are insulating the room's refrigerator (to cut its energy consumption), redesigning pots and pans to make them cook with less heat input, and modifying appliances so that they'll operate on reduced amounts of electricity.

About one-third of the food prepared in the resulting low energy kitchen will come from a 1,200-square-foot garden behind Ouroboros East. And, between the residence and the garden, a 14-square-foot cold frame—or mini-greenhouse—will be used to give vegetables a head start on the growing season every spring.

Still, of all the changes now underway on the Laurel Avenue building and its grounds, the most striking has to be the solar collectors being retrofitted to the dwelling. Eventually, a total of three designs will be installed on the St. Paul residence. And, already, the metal and glass "flat plates" of the first (based on work done over the past 30 years by Harry Thomason, of Washington, D.C.) and second (devised by U of M mechanical engineering graduate John Ilse) cover 1,200 square feet of the structure. The panels, in fact, completely replace what used to be the building's back wall and half its roof!

In operation, the sun's rays will heat a black metal surface under the panes of clear glass which cover the flat-plate collectors. Water will next be warmed by letting it run down the hot surface or by pumping it through tubes fastened to the sheets of black metal. The liquid will then be piped into steel storage tanks in the basement of the house, where it will be held for use at night or during periods of cloudy weather.

Sooner or later, a parabolic third collector will also be erected on the building's roof. It differs from the two flatplate designs by catching a large patch of sunlight on a broad piece of shiny metal which is curved to reflect, focus, and concentrate the solar energy onto boiler tubes (through which, again, water is circulated). When the three-way (two flat-plate and one parabolic collector) system is complete, sunshine is expected to furnish the residence with almost all of its hot water year-round-and about 70% of its winter heat. A backup electric furnace will supply the remaining 30% of the structure's spaceheating needs.

When Ouroboros East is completed this year, it will serve as both living quarters for a student commune and as an educational center. Private rooms on the second floor and in an attic loft will house the students . . . who'll monitor the dwelling's various out-of-the-ordinary systems and explain their operation to visitors. Video tapes showing the design and construction of the building's unusual features will be screened in a first-floor classroom and "hands on" experiments with the concepts will be conducted in a basement workshop. Cue cards which explain the function and cost of the special windows, insulation, toilets, etc., are also being posted throughout the residence.

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