THE STUDENTS AT THIS YEARS SOLAR DECATHLON TACKLED A NEW CHALLENGE AS PART OF THE BIENNIAL COMPETITION: DESIGNING THEIR ENERGY - EFFICIENT HOUSES FOR $250,000 OR LESS. SOLUTIONS INCLUDED SOME POINTEDLY AVANT - GARDE DESIGNS. YET SOME STUDENTS AND FACULTY ADVISERS WORRY THAT THE DECATHLONS NEW EMPHASIS ON AFFORDABILITY WILL DETER INNOVATION AND LEAD TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF MORE - PEDESTRIAN HOMES. OTHER PARTICIPANTS FOUND FAULT WITH THE SYSTEM FOR ESTIMATING COSTS. NEVERTHELESS, A FEW ENTRIES SUCCEEDED IN MAKING A SIGNIFICANT POINT: GOING GREEN CAN HAVE MASS - MARKET APPEAL.
THE DECATHLON IS OVER. NOW WHAT?
hundreds of thousands of people have toured Solar Decathlon houses since the U.S. Department of Energy first held the contest in 2002, challenging college students to pair cutting - edge energy systems with architectural appeal and mass - market potential. The houses have been a huge hit in Washington, D.C., and have been installed permanently in locations from Darmstadt, Germany, to Beijing. But how much influence the decathlon has had on architecture or sustainable technology is more difficult to gauge - certainly its harder to measure than the houses kilowatt output.
Architects have admired the ingenuity with which many of the decathlon teams solved the challenges inherent in creating houses that not only power themselves but also are easy to transport. Perhaps because theyre so cutting - edge, though, none of the home designs has yet wowed builders into offering them on a wider scale, even though marketability is one of the 10 contests included in decathlon scoring. Housing markets, it seems, are more conservative than the student decathletes: Mike and Pete McKechnie, brothers who run a West Virginia green - energy company called Mountain View Solar & Wind, bought the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouths 2005 decathlon house and moved it to Berkeley Springs, W.Va., to use as a residence and demonstration home - but only after they added a second story and made the house look much more conventional.
The competition has, however, produced at least a couple of technological advances that have shown promise. The students who built Santa Clara Universitys 2007 house worked with a civil - engineering professor, Mark Aschheim, to fabricate I - beam joists out of compressed bamboo floorboards. The innovation led to a 2010 paper in the Journal of Structural Engineering, and it has encouraged Aschheims research in both sustainable construction materials and earthquake - resistant design. Meanwhile, successive University of Maryland teams have been perfecting an innovative dehumidifying system.
Indeed, the students participating in the competition have learned plenty while working on the homes. "These students live and breath this for two years," says Richard King, who directs the decathlon program for the Energy Department. "The energy, the passion, the interest that they develop is not going to go away. You feel so much hope that theyre going to go on and change the world."
The decathlon houses "all have some impact locally when they continue to be displayed and used," King says; some are open for regular tours at science museums or on the campuses where they were built. The most famous is Virginia Techs 2009 Lumenhaus, which features a modular design in which a core unit equipped with solar panels and smart technology can be supplemented with inexpensive expansion modules as a family grows. The house, equipped with computer - controlled perforated - grid shade screens, was displayed this past summer beside the Farnsworth House, which Virginia Tech cited among its inspirations.
Rice Universitys 2009 team created a contemporary solar - powered house that was designed to be moved to Houstons Third Ward, a historic black neighborhood where it now houses artists - in - residence for Project Row Houses, an arts and cultural nonprofit. The teams commitment to affordability impressed decathlon visitors and officials, particularly after the 2007 and 2009 competitions were won by sleek but very costly houses from the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany. Partly because of the Rice teams influence, decathlon officials adopted the affordability contest this year.
A few of this years teams also derived inspiration from Rices example of designing its house with a low - income community in mind. Purdues house will become home to a family in Lafayette, Ind., and the Parsons/ Stevens team worked with Habitat for Humanity to relocate their house to Washington, D.C.s Deanwood neighborhood. Those projects will certainly help the competition affect more real - world change.
Indeed, its the decathlon houses that are being lived in that serve as proof of the concept - and create the most effective and enthusiastic evangelists. Rex Barrick, physical - plant manager at the University of Texas at
Austins McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis, rescued the universitys forgotten 2007 house and installed it on an old radio - telescope pad. The reliability of the electrical components, he says, "has given me a tremendous insight into being off the grid." The students "did a tremendous job," even though hes had to complete a few projects they didnt have time to finish. "An astronomical research facility is a great place for a house that runs off the sun," he says. "I couldnt think of anything more appropriate."
Woody Woodroof, founder and executive director of the Red Wiggler Community Farm, lives with his partner in the 800 - square - foot house that Maryland students designed for the 2005 competition. The house generates enough electricity to also power equipment for the farm. "We live in the house no differently than any other house that weve lived in, except that were much more mindful of the energy that were using," Woodroof says. He admits to watching the houses meter religiously.
Woodruff says the house has been changed only a little since the decathlon - its batteries were disconnected and it was instead hooked up to the power grid. Excess power generated during the day is sold to the local utility. "We make more power than we use," he says, though not by much - meaning, he says, that the students designed an appropriately sized solar - powered system for the house.
Daniel Oerther, a professor of environmental engineering at the Missouri University of Science and Techology, shares a 2007 decathlon house on the universitys campus with his wife and their year - old son. The house, about 800 square feet, is located in a "solar village," sitting beside the universitys other three entries. Two of those are rented to students, while the third is used as an office by students hoping to design the universitys next decathlon contender.
"The house has so much technology that you have to make conscious choices about how you use it," Oerther says. "Are you trying to let light and heat in, or keep it out? Even when its freezing outside, it will get to
85 degrees inside just because of solar gain." Paying such close attention to the house in turn "causes us to adjust the other things in our lives as well." He and his wife have given up one of their two cars, eat less meat than they used to, purchase food locally when they can, and try to avoid toxic household cleaning products.
"Im an environmental engineer," Oerther says, "but Ive always had a strong interest in our choices around where we live. We want to make choices with intention." That doesnt always mean they make good choices, he says, but at least theyre choosing, rather than being overwhelmed by the forces of marketing, peer pressure, and habit - forces that, he notes, have helped the average American house swell by about 500 square feet since 1980. "Solar - house living and small - home living are so much about intentional choices," he says. "I think thats whats so powerful about the Solar Decathlon."
Southern California Institute of Architecture and California Institute of Technology
Its part astronaut suit, part thermos. CHIP - as the California team called its entry - has an otherworldly appearance that belies its grounding in mainstream technologies. The house features an exterior skin made of 14 to 16 inches of denim batt insulation wrapped with a low - cost, engineered, vinyl - coated polyester fastened with zip ties, dowel rods, and lag screws. "Aesthetically, we are trying to convey the idea that solar housing isnt just about putting solar panels on your roof. Its also about how you conserve the energy once you harvest it," say Robert Gilson, a student at SCI - Arc. CHIP unabashedly shows off "the thick insulation that it takes to conserve your energy and use it responsibly." A key aspect of the energy conservation plan was to separate inside and outside air. The dwelling incorporates a whole - house fan that performs a complete air change in less than 20 minutes, with fresh air intake above the west entrance and exhausts in the collars surrounding the large openings. Californias spiraling land costs and urban sprawl helped influence CHIPs compact design, which at less than 800 square feet is suited to infill development or neighborhoods zoned for shared lots. "What helped us with affordability is the assembly removes a roofing contractor from the picture, and it removes a siding and finishing contractor," Gilson says. "One single membrane takes care of all the waterproofing.
Team China: Tongji University
With its Y Container home, Team China took a radical approach to affordability: It designed a house around six recycled shipping containers. "The price of six recycled containers is only $6,000, so the main structure and the water - proofing system are really cheap," says Hua Guodong, the teams lead student architect. Each arm of the house is composed of two side - by - side containers, joined together in the middle. "The Y shape gives the interior a more spacious feeling," Hua says. A substantial 8.8 - kilowatt photovoltaic system includes a single inverter and 42 panels, installed on two of the structures three roof areas. As part of the design, the teams engineers integrated the houses HVAC and hot - water system. "Designers need to learn more about how mature energy technology works in the finished project and embed it into their houses at the start of the design process," Hua says. Heat generated by the Y Containers HVAC system can be used to help heat water. And when domestic hot - water demand is met, a solar thermal collector on the roof stores heat in order to warm a series of small water tubes under the floor for thermal radiation.
Purdue University
The Purdue team designed INhome to appeal to "a typical Midwestern consumer." The engineer - driven project - Purdue has no school of architecture - was intended to show that energy - efficient homes can be easy to live in and construct. "We would like a contractor to be able to walk in and say, I know how to build this and make a profit, " says Bill Hutzel, a professor of mechanical engineering technology. Purdue took a simple approach to controlling up - front costs by using off - the - shelf materials. The house is made of SIPs, with long - lasting, low - maintenance HardiePlank applied to the exterior. The roof features sun - reflective cool - roof shingles. The project also includes an innovative biowall, an air - purifying system based on NASA research that studied how plants can purify air in space.
University of Maryland
Marylands Watershed house was not a leader in affordability but nevertheless took top honors in the overall competition. The homes internal liquid desic - cant waterfalls, which were originally developed by Marylands 2007 team, received an upgrade this year. The waterfalls consist of a high - saline liquid solution that absorbs humidity from the air, reducing the load on the mini - split air conditioners, says Amy Gardner, associate professor at Marylands School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation. Watershed features a green - roof system with 156 modular trays for growing sedum plants, and a 42 - panel, 9.2 - kilowatt PV array with individual microinverters. A Crestron Electronics control system processes data from 40 different sensors in the house, so that homeowners could monitor and control everything from lights to overall energy usage.
Ohio State University
Ohio States entry, dubbed enCORE, was partly inspired by Ohios recent economic decline. "It was important for us to show how Ohio still has manufacturing and technologies that are about the future," says faculty architecture adviser Keoni Fleming. The house incorporated a thin - film array manufactured in Toledo and an Ohio - made solar array and doors. To keep costs down, the team chose inexpensive materials and common building techniques. "The house is standard platform framing with 2x6s, but we used advanced framing techniques," Fleming says. "The prefabricated roof trusses line up with the wall studs, allowing a top plate to be eliminated. The windows use metal brackets, so you dont need double studs at the openings. It minimizes materials." The house employs low - cost passive measures and innovative technology, such as a solar thermal hot - air system incorporating a desiccant wheel that can lower humidity. A sliding polycarbonate screen provides privacy and sun protection, a bioremediation system filters rainwater, and the dynamic plan extending from a consolidated building core provides ample living space. "The house is sized to work for a family with a child," Fleming says. "The last time we came to the Solar Decathlon, youd hear a lot of people say, Wow this is great. But I could never see myself living here. I think what we wanted to show this time is, well, actually you could.
Team Belgium: Ghent University
Team Belgium aimed for simplicity with E - Cube, a modular house thats stripped of nonessential components and finishes, leaving the plywood - sandwich facade exposed inside. The house was conceived as an affordable building kit that can be assembled in just days. A boltless, pallet - rack system forms the main structure, with technical systems grouped together in a small compartment. The open plan can be expanded by adding floor panels to the existing beams. "The pallet rack is so flexible - it just clicks together," says recent graduate Charlotte Vyncke. Team Belgium tied for first in affordability, the teams success aided by the ease of construction. "In calculating the labor cost, they took into account if the labor was skilled or not," Vyncke says. "Our house did not require a lot of skilled labor, and I think thats why we won.
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