Solar Decathlon Article – Part IV
September 6, 2007September 4, 2007
Santa Clara University recently celebrated the construction and completion of its Solar Decathlon House at a couple of Gala events at its campus. To mark these accomplishments, celebrations were held in mid-July and late August to thank Avago Technologies, and several other participating sponsors for their contributions on the construction of the Solar Decathlon House. Avago Technologies’ corporate marketing representatives who have been active in this project and attended the July event included Herta Schreiner, director of corporate marketing, and Alain Dangerfield, press relations manager. The construction was already well under way in July (first image below).
On August 16, the house’s exterior was nearly completed thanks to the dedicated work of approximately 200 engineering, arts and sciences, business undergraduate and graduate students (shown in the third panel of the image below). At the official “Send Off” celebration of the completion of the Decathlon House, Santa Clara University President Paul Locatelli, (pictured in the second panel) said, “Idealism is what drove the students in this project. It is their intent to change how homes are built in the future.”
Also attending the celebration was Richard King, of the US Department of Energy who explained how the energy from 20 days of sunshine, if harnessed, would exceed the energy resources available in all U.S. coal, gas and oil reserves. James Bickford, student project manager for the Solar Decathlon project (far right photo), closed with a rousing speech about the passion shown by the student participants who worked on the project.
During a tour of the construction site, Brian Drocco, a Santa Clara University Decathlon team member responsible for coordinating the lighting for the project, highlighted several key innovations being used in the construction of the house:
