Research/Energy Harvesting Motivation

Why is energy harvesting an interesting topic for WdKA students?

--General Motivation--

• Energy availability
  

The general availability of Energy on the long term is questionable.
Although pessimistic views about the future are widespread and are proven wrong many times, the problem of keeping the energy comsumption on the current level seems real in relation to the exponential growth of world population. Given a reduced amount of available energy, the idea of "scraping", "scavenging", "harvesting" energy will be one of the topics of innovative technologies.

• Energy and Climate change
  

The amount of energy the earth population is currently using can be called "big", because there is a relation between energy consumption over the last 100 years and climate change. Reducing energy used by future devices will hopefully accomodate or moderate future problems for example with predicted rising sea levels or other problems within the domain of the Earth heating up.

• Energy and Democracy
  

Energy production and concumption is embedded within global commercial and political power structures. Therefore, gaining independency is making a contribution to the democratisation and empowerment. More specificly can energy harvesting make a difference for poeple living in area's which are not yet connected to the electrical network. Making people independent of global electricity networks can also be reducing the pressure to exploit the last natural resources of the Earth, rain forests, deserts, mountain ranges.
--WdKA specific Motivation--
The students of the WdKA are taught to conceptualize projects in relation with "real complex problems" of today. These problems which are introduced in the so called "practices" and play a main role during the minor are categorized in three domains:

• autonomous practices
• commercial practices
• social practices

These domains are subdivided into:
Autonomous Practice

   Critical Studies

   Public & Private

   Digital Craft

   Hacking

Social Practice

   Cultural Diversity

   Sustainability

   Open Design

   Gamification

Commercial Practice

   New Frontiers

   Branding

   Data Design

   Service Design

The subdivisions which could directly benefit from intuitions around energy harvesting are:

   Digital Craft

   Hacking

   Sustainability

   Open Design

   Gamification

   New Frontiers