Solar Decathlon Brings Out the Best in Us
by Dave Bell
Now that the Solar Decathlon teams of college students, their advisors, and sponsors have packed up and gone back to their respective campuses and offices, what about the 14 solar houses they created specifically for the occasion? Dismantled and sold for scrap? Relegated to corporate showcase/public relations duty? Abandoned on the doorstep of the D.C. sanitation department?
Not a chance. These state-of-the-art solar homes are just beginning to earn their keep, and in most cases, will serve as testaments, not only to their creators' ingenuity, but to their ethos.
The University of Delaware team designed their house as a vehicle for occupants to witness the sun's daily journey across the sky. Its curved, south-facing wall is filled with windows that provide maximum exposure. Now, UDel team members are angling for maximum exposure of a different kind, by lending their creation to Philadelphia's Franklin Institute for public display. Team members hope the Institute will provide a permanent home, along with opportunities for ongoing public access, school tours, research, and education.
From Altruistic to Entrepreneurial
Carnegie Mellon is donating its house to a non-profit organization for use by a deserving family or community group. Crowder College, a two-year institution with limited resources, hoped to finance its project by selling the house on eBay. Although it snared a $75,000 bid, the final sale reportedly is being held up over financing and code restrictions. Meanwhile, Crowder is looking for a sponsor to donate the money so they can keep the house on campus.
Virginia Tech's house will have an evolving research and educational mission. "Even in the beginning, we always looked beyond the competition," said faculty advisor Robert Schubert.
With plans to enter more Solar Decathlons, University of Missouri-Rolla/Rolla Technical Institute faculty advisor Eric Showalter envisions a campus "solar village." For now, his team is excited about taking their house to the Missouri State Fair.
For Texas A&M faculty advisor Keith Sylvester, "The bigger goal is the future: community outreach. We will place the home in our local green space to demonstrate solar energy and building construction." The team plans to use the house as a demonstration for contractors and industry reps, as well as to live in and conduct research.
While the University of Texas will take its act on the road (U.S. Green Builders Council home tour, Association of Architects home tour, and the American Solar Energy Society Conference) before settling down at the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems, Tuskegee University is dedicating a permanent on-campus site for its house in cooperation with the National Park Service.
Changing Consciousness
With two of its campuses vying for the University of Puerto Rico entry, the future is uncertain, but not the vision. "We're competing in a national competition that has the potential to change consciousness," said engineering student Francisco Medina. "We're designing a system that uses only the simple energy of the sun. We're learning how to work with students in other fields. We're trying to make some changes in the world."
What all this suggests to me, is that these students, advisors, and sponsors
deserve our admiration, not just for their ingenuity, creativity, and dedication-but
for their motivation. They are driven by a desire to use their talents to
make the world a better place by engineering for our needs, rather than
our wants.
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