Solar Decathalon Article - Part III
July 5, 2007Santa Clara University Solar Decathlon House Construction Underway
Santa Clara University (SCU) recently announced that its team of undergraduate engineers and designers has begun construction of the Solar House that will be sent to Washington , D.C. , in October as part of the Solar Decathlon competition, which is being sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. The SCU team will be one of several collegiate teams participating in the competition. So far, construction of the house has gone smoothly with the help of a local Construction company and many student volunteers, who have already completed construction of the floor, walls, and roof in just a few days.
Beginning the week of July 9, the SCU team of 43 undergraduate engineers (20 mechanical, 15 electrical, 5 civil, and 3 computer), and 2 designers will begin work to install the interior plumbing, electrical and lighting systems. Avago Technologies, which is one of the corporate sponsors of the Solar House, will provide the energy efficient LED lighting systems. Construction of the building shell for the house was completed at the end of June.
The Department of Energy is sponsoring the Solar Decathlon ( http://www.eere.energy.gov/solar_decathlon/ ) to encourage university students to create innovative solutions that address energy efficiency and global warming by building an environmentally friendly home. SCU's Solar House will use renewable materials such as bamboo joists, and solar thermal collectors to supply hot water, power an air-conditioning system, and a clothes dryer.
To date, the construction of SCU's Solar House has caught the attention of the local news media in the San Francisco Bay Area. A short list of these news outlets include coverage in the San Jose Mercury newspaper, TV news coverage on three of the local network affiliate stations (ABC, NBC and FOX), as well as a local radio station (KGO). The San Jose Mercury newspaper article (http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_6259048?nclick_check=1) highlights the SCU students' progress in building the house. Links to the TV and radio broadcasts are listed below:
- http://media.scu.edu/ocm/solar_decathalon_June32007_WindowsMedia.wmv
- http://media.scu.edu/ocm/solar_house_ktvu_61707_windowsmedia.wmv
- http://media.scu.edu/ocm/SolarHouseKGO_AM_060407.mp3
"The hardest part of the solar house project is that we're all students and we've never built a house before," said Katherine Powell, a SCU student who is part of the project team.
The ultimate goal of the Solar House project is to complete and transport the entire house on a trailer to Washington D.C. in October where it will be on display in the National Mall as part of a Solar Village where the competition will be held. During the Solar Decathlon, teams will compete in 10 contests to determine an overall winner. Using only energy from the sun, the teams must meet the challenge of being able to build a house that can generate enough electricity to run a modern household. With the focus on energy efficiency, the students have carefully chosen the systems, products, and appliances that will be used in the houses they entered into the competition.
Some of the universities that will be competing against SCU in the Solar Decathlon include the University of Colorado , which was the 2006 winner, Carnegie Mellon, nische Universität Darmstadt (Germany), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Spain).
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