My project for the virtual world this year will be based around an assignment for my BTEC National students in Software Development. Each will select a build from the four shown here, which they will have to power from an array of solar voltaic cells. To each I shall then assign a combination of energy requirements such as lights and appliances. While the initial exercise for this has already been written in Java, I have found from previous years that the conversion to Linden Script (oops), given their exposure to structured C also, presents no great difficulty beyond the idea of working in a state driven environment.
I feel the advantage of being able to make use of a dynamic virtual world environment such as OpenSim, allow students to experience their applications running more as a simulation rather than static desktop application, for instance:
•Make use of sun angle in relation to power output
•For sun angles below the horizon then power output will drop to zero
•Factor in virtual world cloud cover
•The impact on the size of an array to a property, they may not all fit onto the roof
•Use excess day power for night storage
Once the project is complete, I shall be posting views and feedback, so you may like to stay in touch for that.
regards Vega
