Framework Prototype revisited
Iteration 1: Conceptual Prototype of different energy sources’ consumption over time and acceptance over time. A full built model could utilize clear acrylic in place of the particle board as well as colored lines. Casting in resin also an option as are acrylic laser-cut cross members.
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Iteration 2: Study charting multiple energy sources (algae, wind, solar, bio-fuels, hyrdogen, fossil fuels) over time. Movement in the 3rd dimension based upon their relationships with each other and their relative prominence at given moment in time. Dowels represent a key moment of economic, technological, social, or political change. Resulting in a subsequent change in the vector of a given energy source’s consumption. Full built model could be hung from the celing and utilize large ropes and/or different materials (such as acrylics) to represent the key moments and some energy sources.
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Iteration 3: Connection and Material Study of multiple energy sources’ consumption over time. Full built model would base its form on consumption data and our speculation on the future, though still in a relative abstract fashion. Connections would be specific to key moments of economic, technological, social, or political change, that would reflect convergence or divergence of energies.
Our framework model now deals with specific moments, represented by pieces made in the 3d printer, which speak about specific forces and their effects on the ecology of the energy industry. We are concentrating on speculative economic, political, and social moments which we foresee as having a major impact on the industry. The model will represent exactly those moments, what will happen to each energy type, and how they relate to each other.
Economic Forces: we are speculating that oil, being a nonrenewable resource, will become scarce and very expensive in the future which will provide opportunities for alternate energies to emerge. A scenario or sequence of events that illustrates the conversion of energy dependence is:
1. a public realization of the rise on the cost of oil futures, which signals a need for preparing for an energy switch
2. oil use will spike, as cultures intensify the manufacturing of alternate fuel raw materials and an infrastructure for distribution
3. testing begins by slowly integrating alternate fuel sources into the market which creates a mixed typology of energy use
4. as oil futures become increasingly expensive, tax exemptions and other incentives are being devised and implemented to entice investors, manufacturers and distributors of alternate energies
5. with a sustainable manufacturing and distribution infrastructure, tax exemptions and other incentives are given to personal consumers of alternate energy which creates a viable market for these sustainable energy sources
6. the u.s. dollar will suffer due to a lack of oil future purchase(will occurs in dollars), which should increase the exportof other goods(food, merchandise and alternate energy fuel cells)
7. the u.s. should become a major exporter of alternate fuel cells which can be denominated as tradeable only in u.s dollars.
- representative of economical circumstance piece
economical piece grouping which will form an important economical moment
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Political Interventions: moments of change that can be characterized as government policies, environmental regulations, and government backed subsidies that affect the course of energy source consumption. Political willpower is often lacking to enact real change, thus only when a point of crisis arrives will a significant political action tend to occur.
Therefore political interventions lag behind the everyday economic and social trends that are the pulse of change in this country. Political interventions then act as an amplifier. That is, political interventions will amplify an economic or social trend that already exists. And conversely will reduce one that is already waning.
The prototype model for political interventions reflects this notion of amplification and reduction. Energies will flow across these models’ surfaces and establish new vectors respective to the economic and social trends that we foresee.
Social Forces
As threads of our framework pass through the social force they can multiply or decrease in size or amount. Social forces have a high impact on the threads just as they do on how we change our constructed world to fit with more acceptable methods of producing energy.
1. Technology: As technology becomes greater the force of social impact will be greater thus influencing economic and political threads. As the technology to create fuel becomes more available, the ability to produce oil from algae will significantly rise.
2. Acceptance: The social acceptance of using alternate fuels will change over time
3.Proximity: Social factors will be the strongest near the area of fuel production.
The form of the social force was inspired by the gum ball from the sweet gum tree [Liquidambar styraciflua]. It is a honeycomb-like skeleton with an exo-skelteton of protruding protective spikes which symbolize the complicated instances involved with the social construct surrounding the issue of algae production.
