About the storage of energy, we were thinking about learning some things about the animals which don't keep their body temperature constant. The nature has selectionned this kind of properties because it is really economic in terms of energy. These animals use the heat from outside to warm up, and when there is not enough heat, they reduce activities in the parts of their body which are not as vitals as the others, and they slow their cardiac rhythm.
We could inspire from this strategy, and absorb as much energy as we can when it is available, and give it back when it is needed. The whole problem is to know how to store some energy, because we know that storing it as electricity is complicated, so we need to find other ways to store energy. Until now we had three ideas:
Convert the energy from wind or sun into potential energy, by pumping up as many water as we can as high as possible and transform it into electricity when energy is needed
Heating water balloons with heat from the sun, and use this hot water in the heating systems
Using materials for walls which absorb a maximum ammount of heat.
These three points need now to be deepened and presented to the water/shelter teams to improve them and to cross the specific needs of the different projects.
