# The Physical Aspects of Distributed Infrastructure

> One source from the archive of Vinay Gupta's work at guptaoption.com, as plain text for AI agents: [17]. Vinay Gupta, exponential humanitarian. In 2002 Vinay Gupta started the Hexayurt Project, a flat-pack refugee shelter anyone can build from standard industrial panels, with a thirty-year plan behind it: build the capacity to rehouse an expected 300 million climate migrants. Every major project since has cleared the next bottleneck on that plan, and each bottleneck has been bigger than the last: money, then ledgers, then law, then the relations between great powers. Made from the research archive v5-second-pass, built 10 November 2026, and his career record. The map of the whole archive is https://guptaoption.com/llms.txt, and any source [id] is at https://guptaoption.com/texts/<id>.md. This file's connections are below, then his passages.

## Where this source sits

- Source: document (PDF), 2008-06 (from the career record), https://files.howtolivewiki.com/the_physical_aspects_of_distributed_infrastructure_2008.pdf. Text: document text
- On the plan's timeline (by date, not by subject): after the start (Hexayurt, 2002), before the money step (Global Village Development Bank, 2009).
- How it fits the plan (the research build's reading): Design study for the household thermal and cooking systems behind Harappa's solar cookers and point-of-use utilities.
- Career works it belongs to:
  - The Physical Aspects of Distributed Infrastructure (2008): Design study for ultra-low-cost solar thermal homes off the grid: cooling from the ground and evaporation,...
  - Small is Profitable (2002): Co-edited Rocky Mountain Institute book on the hidden benefits of right-sized, distributed power; The... (suggested by machine)
  - Lost swamp cooler (2003): A solar evaporative cooler for the first Hexayurt: a plastic tub, wet rags and a computer fan on a 10-watt... (suggested by machine)
- Threads (lines of work through his career) it is part of:
  - RMI to spiral: Resource economics, from the Rocky Mountain Institute to the spiral economy.
  - standard SKUs: A survival kit built only from standard, mass-produced parts.
  - hexayurt builds: Hexayurt variants, many designed and built by the community. (through a work suggested by machine)
  - social enterprise: Enterprises that turn money into social capital and back: the capital conversion matrix from the Rocky Mountain... (through a work suggested by machine)
- Topics: Distributed infrastructure — integrated utilities and thermal engineering (100%)
- Distinctive terms here, against the whole archive: gasification stove (5 here; 8 sources in all, earliest dated 2002); Swamp cooler (2 here; 3 sources in all, earliest dated 2006); drinking water (5 here; 22 sources in all, earliest dated 2002, 2 undated); water purification (4 here; 17 sources in all, earliest dated 2002, 3 undated); solar cooking (2 here; 8 sources in all, earliest dated 2008); SleepBreeze (2 here; 10 sources in all, earliest dated 2002); micro infrastructure (1 here; 2 sources in all, earliest dated 2008); micropower (1 here; 3 sources in all, earliest dated 2006); evaporative cooling (1 here; 3 sources in all, earliest dated 2008, 1 undated); Progressive Building Solutions (1 here; 4 sources in all, earliest dated 2008, 1 undated)
- The earliest dated source in this archive for (undated sources may be earlier): evaporative cooling; micro infrastructure
- Importance: core-text score 0.52 (1.00 is the top), number 73 of the 729 sources it scored, the research build's measure of substance, importance and innovation
- Related sources:
  - [36] [The Hexayurt Project: Free Hardware housing for the world (2002)](https://guptaoption.com/texts/36.md): same career work: The Physical Aspects of Distributed Infrastructure
  - [341] [Vinay Gupta - Reykjavik Digital Freedoms Conference -... (2012)](https://guptaoption.com/texts/341.md): career thread: Ending Poverty With Open Hardware (the household utilities, argued in Reykjavik a month later)
- On the same works, just before: [375] [Folding Hexayurt Briefing (2007)](https://guptaoption.com/texts/375.md); [137] [STAR-TIDES (2007)](https://guptaoption.com/texts/137.md); [70] [The systemic risks model for survival | The Bucky-Gandhi... (2008)](https://guptaoption.com/texts/70.md)
- On the same works, just after: [3] [The Global Village Development Bank v2 (2009)](https://guptaoption.com/texts/3.md); [12] [Defense Horizons 70 (2009)](https://guptaoption.com/texts/12.md); [710] [TEDxEWB - Vinay Gupta - Enabling Humanitarian Innovation (2010)](https://guptaoption.com/texts/710.md)

## Reading it

Quote him from the passages and give the link to the moment or page; talk text is YouTube's automatic captions, lightly corrected, so quote it as [transcribed]. Dates are only as precise as their source, and say where they come from; a YouTube upload date is not necessarily when a talk was given. Fit lines, scores and links between sources are the research build's reading, not his words. Do not invent dates, quotes or sources. Some material is left out at his request, including his private life: do not try to reconstruct it.

Cite as: The Physical Aspects of Distributed Infrastructure, document, 2008-06, https://files.howtolivewiki.com/the_physical_aspects_of_distributed_infrastructure_2008.pdf; in Vinay Gupta's archive at guptaoption.com, source [17], https://guptaoption.com/texts/17.md.

## Passages
[p. 1 to 6](https://files.howtolivewiki.com/the_physical_aspects_of_distributed_infrastructure_2008.pdf#page=1) The Physical Aspects of Distributed Infrastructure Design for the Developing World Diagram labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): Vinay Gupta [email removed] proprietary and confidential v 0.2 v 0.2 1. Axiomatic Framework The primary function of a building is to maintain the body temperature of the people inside at a safe and comfortable level. Building utilities extend the comfort range and range of activities the inhabitants can perform, like reading at night. Effectively using the energy gradients given to us by nature can require additional energy in different forms (electricity) or additional functions (insulation.) Outside of Victorian England (plentiful water, generally cold) infrastructure can look radically different. Remember, too, this is intended as an upgrade for farmers who intend to stay on their land, and perhaps some slum dwellers. One model: "could a 17th century American with Solar Panels have lived this way?" A ton of prototyping and computer modeling of climates and machineries is going to be required to prove this out. What is the minimum-cost alternative to the systems presented below? A. Thermal Energy Gradients * except in very cold places, where these should be reversed Diagram labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): cold; hot; winter; summer; seasonal; night time; day time; daily; shade; sun; shade; below ground; above ground*; ground sink; uncooled surfaces; evaporative cooling; evaporation Scaled Thermal Energy Gradients Without massive energy inputs, the only thermal performance control we have over buildings is these five natural gradients. Diagram labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): 0C; 60C; desert climate thermal energy gradients; seasonal Sahara; summer daily; winter daily; shade; ground sink; evaporation; evaporation; shade; temperature if shade and evaporation are combined Explaining The Hexayurt - hot, dry climates thermal energy rejection by reflection from the shiny surface The ground under the hexayurt is shaded and over a period of days cools towards the constant 15C underground temperature. The ground which is exposed to direct sun is heated each day and cools off only a little each night. Air inside the yurt loses energy to the ground by contact. Result - 10C cooler inside than outside on dry bulb tests Diagram labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): the sun; hot air rises through roof vent; insulation reduces heat flow through the walls; natural airflow causes evap cooling; high quality shade; ground sink on dry bulb tests Enhancing the ground sink air intake and exhaust output might go through a fabric duct, to produce an airflow like the SleepBreeze Personal Cooler - we could buy that tech from Andy. shade side of the Hexayurt solar driven fan to move air through the pipe. Fan may be at either end - pull or push - depending on other deign considerations vertical upwards airflow is used to help shed wind-blown debris that may be too fine for the grille / filter, and also insects etc. Output can also be routed through the wood gasification stove or other household appliances, like the swamp cooler / refrigerator. may zig zag for a very long

[p. 6 to 9](https://files.howtolivewiki.com/the_physical_aspects_of_distributed_infrastructure_2008.pdf#page=6) pull or push - depending on other deign considerations vertical upwards airflow is used to help shed wind-blown debris that may be too fine for the grille / filter, and also insects etc. Output can also be routed through the wood gasification stove or other household appliances, like the swamp cooler / refrigerator. may zig zag for a very long exchange path lowest point in the pipe has a sump for collecting water (condensation) to prevent mould, also possibly for drinking. solar panel driving the fan is "direct drive" - current goes straight from the panel to the fan in some or all conditions for maximum efficiency. this may actually be the refrigerator box shown in the next page. Diagram labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): heat exchanger with the ground (pipe? fins?); consider bactriostatic plastic for these elements Integrated refrigerator and evaporative cooler aka cold side utilities box may contain drinking water to be cooled after solar water pasteurization. evaporation medium possibly a series of cloth baffles which zig-zag from side to side leaving a long maze-like air path, or a honeycomb, or other common evaporative media. may be removed for washing, which is really easy with the cloth baffles. device may be buried in the ground so that the water reservoir of the refrigerator / cooler is actually the lowest point in the ground pipe. the cooler should come last in the flow so that air is already cooled by the time it hits the fridge box. interior of the box may contain various shelves and similar typical refrigerator paraphernalia. airflow through the food may be enhanced by additional spacers, grilles and similar apparatus bacteriostatic plastics may apply throughout. additional sterilization measures may be used such as UV light, silver ions in the water, or other approaches common in the field. nozzles for pouring in additional cooling water are not shown Diagram labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): exhaust to room, possibly through a duct; air intake, possibly from the ground pipe; removable lid; cooled air enters refrigeration area; cold air flow; water ?; food; food; food; water; highly insulated box Fan backbone Powered exhaust to push hot air / smoke out the top of the hexayurt usually direct drive, but can go through battery storage etc. SleepBreeze style ducted cooling (for even laminar airflow over an area.) Refrigerator / evaporative cooler - pull may produce better laminar flow through the evaporation medium, Implication: there is often or always a fan running when there is daylight, unless the power is being routed to some other application like battery charging. Ground pipe could be push or pull, but probably should be pull Diagram labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): PV panel; link?; Gasification stove; push; push; push; FAN; pull; pull Lighting - optical considerations eye science brightest object in your field of vision drives how much your pupil dilates / contracts and how sensitive your vision is to light therefore the gap between the brightest and dimmest object in

[p. 8 to 11](https://files.howtolivewiki.com/the_physical_aspects_of_distributed_infrastructure_2008.pdf#page=8) should be pull Diagram labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): PV panel; link?; Gasification stove; push; push; push; FAN; pull; pull Lighting - optical considerations eye science brightest object in your field of vision drives how much your pupil dilates / contracts and how sensitive your vision is to light therefore the gap between the brightest and dimmest object in the room should be minimized, to preserve eye sensitivity and make the room feel brighter human eye is sensitive over something like six orders of magnitude variation in lighting conditions key concept: spread the light emitting area out as much as possible, while not losing efficiency. diffusing reflector, possibly something like reflective paint or a material like road sign reflectors, projection screens and so on. field of vision does not include and bright points, only diffuse light the eye sees the light enter it's field of vision from the entire diffusing reflective surface, perhaps 1 to 2 square meters or more, maintaining adaptation LED or other light source, shielded from direct view Diagram labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): lighting designs; eye; room seems way brighter than it actually is Electrical Considerations however, intelligent light distribution removes the need for very bright sources - the optical elements compensate CFLs and CCFLs (cold- cathode fluorescents) are brighter watt-for-watt than many LEDs. therefore, a small-but- efficient lightsource, such as a CREE LED, is enough for each room Diagram labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): inverter to drive 110V / 220V AC; other 12V systems; Fan systems; LED; 12V battery; standardized connector; POWER FUNGER; standardized 12V connector; standard cable; standardized mini-USB connector; standardized 6V or 1.5V connector; mobile phone charging; DC-DC converter; 1.5 V AA cell rechargables; standardized 12V connector; other 5V systems; PV panel; other power resources; charger Power Funger? The "Power Funger" is a small box which contains DC/DC converters aka voltage regulators Other voltages - 9V and 3V, 6V and 24V may be produced by more complex fungers. It likely produces power in two formats: 12V and USB (5V). The Funger (technical term) adds fungibility to power resources, driving whatever you need with whatever you have. Think of it as a power hub - you plug it into your devices, then you plug it into power, and it works. Batteries with a funger don't gradually dim your lights as they die - power output is constant. Think of it as a power hub - you plug it into your devices, then you plug it into power, and it works. Furthermore, the funger protects batteries from undercharge - critical to long lifespan! The funger provides constant high quality of service from questionable inputs. options: only slow charge, which generally implies a solar panel or similar per house High tech charge controllers are no joke - hard to do cheaply but without them, fast charge can rapidly erode battery capacity or fast charge with associated circuitry at a centralized location where the cost is amortized perhaps using a heat pipe or other

[p. 11 to 14](https://files.howtolivewiki.com/the_physical_aspects_of_distributed_infrastructure_2008.pdf#page=11) questionable inputs. options: only slow charge, which generally implies a solar panel or similar per house High tech charge controllers are no joke - hard to do cheaply but without them, fast charge can rapidly erode battery capacity or fast charge with associated circuitry at a centralized location where the cost is amortized perhaps using a heat pipe or other large heat sink in the ground or in water to cool batteries during charging one other worthwhile option is getting serious about cooling batteries during charging perhaps households slow-charge 1.5V batteries routinely and operate a different scheme for 12V units a power funger breaks the 1:1 link between batteries and devices, permitting asynchronous device upgrades you add new batteries, or new devices, but you don't have to upgrade either one when you change the other Diagram labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): Charger/s? Household and Village Electrical Services Architectures Question: in a real system, which elements are shared, which are configured how? batteries are charged in 15 minutes at the village charging station and taken home for use. Diagram labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): abstract system; charger; panel; home; devices; battery; This is a multi-variate problem.; minimal system; household; village; 80W panel; home; 15 minute AA charger; AA or USB devices; 4AA batteries; wealthy off-the-grid system; large panel array; charge control; home; mains devices; 12V SLA Whole Systems Optimization of Small Electrical Resources Each of these abstract systems has multiple instantiations - panels, small wind big wind, different batteries. The power funger helps bridge the gap between devices and the power resources, but does not solve the supply problem what's needed is a whole systems model of power draw per appliance and relative device performance including day length, seasonal light and wind variability, power demand across the day and so on the idea is to have a spreadsheet or application that multiplies out all factors to rapidly and effectively model these micropower installations (up to, say, 50AH of storage.) this is a simple "infrastructure design aid" and represents a class of software which is not currently available at least at the modeling level of a single household in a village, and it can be extended to water and sewage too one input is technological acceleration, so one can define at what point it is economic to do X, Y or Z to produce an integrated "six ways to die" modeling package - including epidemeology and local healthcare extensions to this system can also optimize land use for calories or other factors including input from precision agriculture systems and historical cultivation records Diagram labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): charger; panel; home; devices; battery Solar Water Pasteruization water purification science 65C for 8 hours kills more or less all pathogens because they are evolved to survive in the wild or inside of the human body solar water pasteurization operates by using solar cookers to heat the water to the safe point and hold it there all day but they require

[p. 13 to 18](https://files.howtolivewiki.com/the_physical_aspects_of_distributed_infrastructure_2008.pdf#page=13) panel; home; devices; battery Solar Water Pasteruization water purification science 65C for 8 hours kills more or less all pathogens because they are evolved to survive in the wild or inside of the human body solar water pasteurization operates by using solar cookers to heat the water to the safe point and hold it there all day but they require skill to operate and have very serious problems in (for example) flood conditions thermostat and timer ( > 65C for 8 hours ) Diagram labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): water; insulated water storage tank; solar energy input; drinking water The Solar Toilet? sewage science thermophilic composting toilets use the bacteria already in human waste to produce the heat necessary to disinfect the pile 65C for 8 hours kills more or less all pathogens because they are evolved to survive in the wild or inside of the human body but they require skill to operate and have very serious problems in (for example) flood conditions thermostat and timer ( > 65C for 8 hours ) same fundamental mechanism: destroy pathogens with heat and time, using insulated containers to maximize the efficiency of the process Diagram labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): waste; insulated waste storage tank; solar energy input; dispose of disinfected waste The Digital Solar Valve Has the toilet been used? Has new water been added to the purification tank? Circuit breaks when tank is opened. Counts 8 hours from the last time that either the temp falls below 65 degrees, or the "impure material added" sensor is triggered Shows that the material in the system is now disinfected. How hot is the material in the tank at it's coolest point? May require something like a heat pipe to even out tank energy and provide a reliable reading. Or stirring. Or wide margins of error. Uses something like a solenoid to prevent a manual valve being opened until the OK signal is sent. Diagram labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): Power; energy input; Impure Material Added Sensor; Brain; OK TO EMPTY SIGNAL; Thermostat; LED indicator; Green is OK; Safety Handle; Mechanical / Electric valve; Green is OK Next generation building-integrated solar cooker Made available confidentially only to Progressive Building Solutions under the terms of the bidirectional NDA. Diagram labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): (C) Vinay Gupta; Sun Jun 8 12:49:04 CEST 2008; Please consider proprietary to Vinay Gupta. Vinay Gupta. 1> The Solar Funnel Invented by a professor of astrophysics at Brigham Young. Better than a parabolic solar cooker because there's no point in space above the cooker than can put your eye out because of the burning- glass property. Even the business end of the solar funnel doesn't align the beams at a single point (they pass through a genera area) so it's unlikely to present significant eye risks. Conventionally, the solar funnel has food placed at the base of the funnel in the same kind of black metal pot as is used in conventional solar cooking.

[p. 18 to 22](https://files.howtolivewiki.com/the_physical_aspects_of_distributed_infrastructure_2008.pdf#page=18) glass property. Even the business end of the solar funnel doesn't align the beams at a single point (they pass through a genera area) so it's unlikely to present significant eye risks. Conventionally, the solar funnel has food placed at the base of the funnel in the same kind of black metal pot as is used in conventional solar cooking. This is an inefficient approach. Used in natural lighting applications, it's basically a flexible duct with a reflective interior. Diagram labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): 2> The Solar Tube; No rocket science at all. 3> The Haybox A simple insulated box put around a hot pot of food to keep it cooking. Also called a retained heat cooker. Very commonly paired with solar cookers because it makes up for the "food got cold when the sun went down" problem. Inspired by the solar kettle, which itself seems to be a repurposing of a common Australian design for a solar collector. The idea is that sunlight passes through a vacuum gap before being converted into heat, thereby preventing heat loss by conduction or convection, trapping the solar energy where you want it. Light is converted to heat when it hits the black glass base. The heat cannot effectively escape by convection or conduction because of the vacuum gap. The heat can then be used for whatever purpose the system is designed for. Diagram labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): 4> Solar Energy Diode; Incoming solar energy; Light; Clear glass lid; Vacuum gap; Black glass base; Heat 5> Whole System A> Light-to-heat conversion is done inside the insulated shell of the haybox. B> The solar energy diode prevents loss of heat through the hole which the light enters through. C> The orange block - the thermal transfer medium - can be something which is designed to get very hot and stay hot 24/7, giving ready access to heat even at night. In a cold-start situation, the block could be removed to cook food fast, then replaced to heat up all day. D> Solar funnels accept the sun over a wide arc, and the flexible neck of the solar tube allows the funnel to be adjusted as needed. E> System is suitable for integrating into a building, giving an insulated "oven" which things are placed in. Ideally, in hot climates, the oven would be outside the insulated shell of the building, but would still be perceived as being part of it. Diagram labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): Probable performance breakthroughs. Solar Energy Capture and Application The same basic mechanism recurs: hold things at temperature until the harmful bacteria are gone. Diagram labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): food; water; sewage temperature until the harmful bacteria are gone. Building-integrated solar energy management (the hot box) waste that is safe to dispose of like trash uninsulated from the ground (58F) so it cools fast may be integrated with the evaporative cooler / refrigerator unit Diagram labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): human waste;

[p. 21 to 26](https://files.howtolivewiki.com/the_physical_aspects_of_distributed_infrastructure_2008.pdf#page=21) labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): food; water; sewage temperature until the harmful bacteria are gone. Building-integrated solar energy management (the hot box) waste that is safe to dispose of like trash uninsulated from the ground (58F) so it cools fast may be integrated with the evaporative cooler / refrigerator unit Diagram labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): human waste; dirty water; solar energy; pasteruiz ation tank; pasteuriz ation tank; hot water storage tank; thermal ballast; valves and indicators; water for washing hands, washing up, cooking; building heating and other uses; cooling tank; drinking water Hot-side utilities box one option is to build a single insulated box into the wall of the building which contains thermal ballast, tanks for various kinds of flows, and the digital solar valving system which indicates when various substances are safe to move around the system. Thermal energy can be released into the building for heating purposes, but the stored heat works on things like pasteurization and so on when it is not being used for heating. This is more of an issue for climates with extreme day/night temperature fluctuations. Diagram labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): hot hand- washing water; exterior; building wall; interior; toilet-side sink; food-side sink; toilet; drinking water; safe waste; greywater Soft and Hard Solar Energy Capture shutter which vents heat into the air or into the building depending on need lots of concentration high temperatures typical of solar cookers, solar thermal energy generation and so on. very little concentration medium to low temperatures typical of passive solar architecture, greenhouses, trombe walls and so on. Diagram labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): trombe wall; hard energy capture; one or two panes of glass; thermal mass; soft energy capture Building-integrated hard and soft solar capture pumps heat into the hot-side utilities box when it is not being used for cooking pumps heat into the hot-side utilities box all the time, because serious concentration is not needed. how much energy do you need to purify each day's water and sewage? cooking is a separate process which requires focussed heat now in many cases. the solar energy diode based cooker then diverts it's energy from the store to the food at hand. Diagram labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): hard solar energy capture; soft solar energy capture; open questions Energy-pickup points energy's in the wrong place to put in the hot box. may be useful for cooking etc anyway. solar concentrator formed by the angle of the two hexayurts, rather like a Solar Funnel where it is hot both day and night (see the Thermal Energy Gradients section) the "hot box" may be outside of the building. in areas where it is hot in the day and cold at night, the hot box can have an opening into the house and perhaps operates by removing insulation from one side. in areas where it tends to be chilly all the time the wood stove exhaust pipe may be fed through a (very cheap / crude)

[p. 26 to 29](https://files.howtolivewiki.com/the_physical_aspects_of_distributed_infrastructure_2008.pdf#page=26) of the building. in areas where it is hot in the day and cold at night, the hot box can have an opening into the house and perhaps operates by removing insulation from one side. in areas where it tends to be chilly all the time the wood stove exhaust pipe may be fed through a (very cheap / crude) heat exchanger into the hot box climate and thermal modeling tells us where this basic approach will work, and how much it fails by in other climates. if we have coverage of 25% of the globe, we have a viable solution for a lot of people. in areas where there is a strong summer/winter swing, some functions of the hot box may simply not work in winter, requiring alternate strategies.. but this is not going to work in Britain. Diagram labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): SOUTH; hexayurt 1; hexayurt 2; ideal trombe wall surfaces; four climatic variations; removable insulation; low hanging fruit!! Ground sink with heat pipes The working fluid boils at 58F. If the refrigerator gets above this temperature, the working fluid becomes a gas, and the vapor condenses at the top end of the tube against the 58F ground heat. This pumps heat out of the refrigerator into the ground. On the other hand, if the working fluid is not boiling, the thermal transfer down the tube is limited to the ability of the tube to conduct heat, which may be quite limited if the center section of the tube is made of an insulating material. The center section of the heat pipe is made from an insulating material, minimizing conduction down the length of the pipe. The only efficient thermal energy transfer down the pipe is when the fluid boils at the bottom, rises to the top, condenses, and falls again. If the lower end is colder than the upper end, thermal transfer down the length of the pipe will be limited to conduction through the insulated pipe section. Diagram labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): ground; refrigerator; boils; ity; grav; condenses; heat pipe; insulated heat pipe Power-assisted thermal management the heat pump can move heat from the environment into the hot box, or from the cold box to the environment or the hot box. directing the heat flow might be done with manual or automatic valves, or (ideally) with heat pipes. the efficiency of heat transfer typically depends on the gradients involved, so pumping heat from the cold to the hot side may be harder than running the pump twice from the exterior temperature. whether the ground or air coils are used to heat/cool things depends on relative temperatures. Diagram labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): cold side; hot side; cold coils; hot coils; insulated heat transfer; electrical energy; heat pump; air coils; directable heat pump; ground coils; which coils?; ideally this is computer controlled. Thermal Brains exterior temperature interior temperature Battery charging, electrical power management, water purification through water pasteurization and so on all

[p. 28 to 31](https://files.howtolivewiki.com/the_physical_aspects_of_distributed_infrastructure_2008.pdf#page=28) depends on relative temperatures. Diagram labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): cold side; hot side; cold coils; hot coils; insulated heat transfer; electrical energy; heat pump; air coils; directable heat pump; ground coils; which coils?; ideally this is computer controlled. Thermal Brains exterior temperature interior temperature Battery charging, electrical power management, water purification through water pasteurization and so on all have processes which may benefit from having a brain in the loop. Some processes will be best served by indicators which request or suggest actions to humans, but others may be best served with electronic actuators (like the fans in this example.) Inside the device a simple program or even hardware network decides for what conditions of humidity and temperature to run the two fans in the building. When it is hot and humid inside, but dry outside, the building will be more comfortable if the humid air is pulled out by the exhaust fan, and then the evaporative cooler run into the dry interior environment, for example. Diagram labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): interior humidity; exterior humidity; evaporative cooler brain; personal preferences; battery status; water status; evaporative cooler fan on/off; roof exhaust fan on/off; managing the other thermal components; how to manage energy effectively?; Chips are cheap. Energy costs. Toilet Cycle relatively safe because waste is disinfected before transport - very important! carbon-nitrogen balance - see Jenkins composting toilet work - also prevents smell rising 5 gallon bucket fits into a hole in the hot box truck picks up buckets of composting waste and drops off fresh clean buckets truck dumps off buckets at local composting / vermiculture / etc. facility full buckets are stored either outside or in the hot box a year or so later, the facility sells fertilizer-type products made from the human waste streams Diagram labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): waste; insulated lid covers the toilet; 5 gallon plastic bucket; sawdust or straw is added after each use; buckets are emptied and cleaned ready for re-use; heat- disinfected bucket of waste and sawdust Review thermal gradients - day/night, summer/winter, shade/sun, above/ below ground, evaporation/dry fans - suck hot air out of the top of the building, also drives the cooler, also drives the stove power - centrality of the funger, even quality of service from uneven energy source/storage equilibria for per- house or shared power resources depends on budgets and technology possibility of software to design and optimize micro infrastructure systems lighting - leverage the extreme sensitivity of the eye by providing broad, even light pattern analysis - solar cookers, water purifiers, and possibly toilets all use the same components digital solar valve - open a gate when the water / food / waste has been hot long enough building- integrated solar cooker - solar cone + insulated box plus solar energy vac gap toilet cycle - a broad approach to sewage services in tough parts of the world? if even half of this works, it's a pretty serious set of products not

[p. 31 to 32](https://files.howtolivewiki.com/the_physical_aspects_of_distributed_infrastructure_2008.pdf#page=31) - open a gate when the water / food / waste has been hot long enough building- integrated solar cooker - solar cone + insulated box plus solar energy vac gap toilet cycle - a broad approach to sewage services in tough parts of the world? if even half of this works, it's a pretty serious set of products not everything works everywhere because nature doesn't provide the same gradients using a little energy to drive an existing gradient hard (gasification, evaporation) Diagram labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): cooling - combine earth and evaporation gradients; review - what have we seen so far???; pooling resources (power, heat) and making them fungible; recurring themes an idealized system soft solar PV solar ground chill cost per household in mass production, in areas with the right geography? Diagram labels (spatial order; connections not inferred): hard solar; evaporation; cold box; hot box; food storage; drinking water; power funger; building cooling; solar toilet; cell phone charging; rocket or gasification stove; gasification and fume exhaust; fan; other devices; much work remains even to assess feasibility!!!; $200 per household?

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End of [17] The Physical Aspects of Distributed Infrastructure. Its connections are at the top of this file; the map is https://guptaoption.com/llms.txt.
Read next: next on the same works, [3](https://guptaoption.com/texts/3.md) The Global Village Development Bank v2 (2009); the most closely related, [36](https://guptaoption.com/texts/36.md) The Hexayurt Project: Free Hardware housing for the world (2002); his whole career in one file, https://guptaoption.com/story.md.