Plug and Live Project

The objective of Plug and Live Project and of our participation to Solar Decathlon competition, in addition to generating new knowledge, is to create awareness among the general public on intelligent energy use. To show that a more efficient energy use is possible and accessible in Africa, if buildings are user-lifetime oriented and made to lose less heat in winter and stay fresh in summer, therefore using less central heating and air conditioning, using appliances that consume less, and getting the energy needed through renewable sources such as the sun. This project is also challenging the concept of reducing cost by reducing life cycle choice and quality. We investigate a concept where the cost is reduced by using some basic components and structures that can be upgraded along the building’s lifetime. This “Plug & Live” project covers the entire process from design via configuration and co-design of mass customized modules and elements all the way to energy savings, automation and adaptability in the operation phase. The elements would be made for self-assembly, and will have a weight limited by workers’ safety. They will be treated on factory and will not emit any hazardous gas on the construction site. On the other hand, the modules will be related to life time expectations and initially designed for easy maintenance and replacement. In this project, replaced elements and modules can be recycled. in this sense, the potential of the Plug & Live project is to develop a module offer market in a cyclical economy. Recover modules not used by the owners because of a departure of children for example, then retype or adapt to sell them to another owner who wants to enlarge his one-bedroom house. This project is ongoing and has to be constructed on comeptition site in Benguerir in september 2019. At this time, detailled studies have already been completed (architectural,structural, and energetic studies). The main challenge of this project is to propose a reliable and feasible energy model in order to have a solar house that meets BEPOS criteria, i.e. a building that produces more energy than it consumes. It is therefore essential that our building has exemplary energy and environmental performance in order to win the Solar Decathlon AFRICA Competition. The educational objective of this project is to experiment the effects of a real operation’s intensity able to drain extraordinary enthusiasm and action forces, unthinkable in an ordinary situation based on the sole reality simulation. Also, it is about experimenting the fact that channeled individual energies on a project can make a collective action astonishingly powerful. This action aims for an uncommon educational virtue with effects that will be deeply felt by all the participants, be it in a more or less involved way. In february 2019, the project team start the detailed studies in order to launch the construction and testing phase before march 2019. The project team is open for any value added involvment mainly in : - Project communication tasks (Story telling, Direct Marketing, Digital Marketing, ...) - Branding Communication (Content developement, Public events, Public & Media relations, Web presence, ….) - Partnership development: Prospect development (Sponsoring documents), sponsors tracking, In-Kind Prospects ... - Project scheduling & Tasks tracking, Database Managment, Team Coordination & Information exchange, Budget tracking, Strategy & compliance DOE rules ...