Renewable energy and wild life conservation: Design and construction of a solar incubator

This paper presents the design, construction and results of a solar powered incubator and pools for rearing yacaré, a specie of the crocodile family, found in northern Argentina. The design was developed by the Research Centre Habitat & Energy, Faculty of Architecture, Design and Urbanism, Buenos Aires University in the framework of a Cooperation Agreement with the Argentine Wild Life Foundation. The installation, located in a Wild Life Refuge in a remote sub-tropical area of the Chaco Province in the north-east region of Argentina, consists of an incubation chamber for hatching the yacaré with strict temperature conditions, pools for rearing the young during a year, heated by solar energy, an auxiliary wood-fired water heater and PV system to power the pumps control system and other minimal requirements such as lighting. The concepts, system development and integration, construction process and measured performance are presented together with the first results of this project which integrates low impact renewable energy systems to support the conservation of an endangered specie.