Americans get less than 1 percent of their electricity from the sun, but that humble statistic doesn’t discourage Corey McCalla and other students at Virginia Tech who brought their high-tech, energy-producing home to Solar Decathlon Europe in Madrid, Spain, in June and conquered the competition.
Their house design, called Lumenhaus, uses a mix of flexible solar power roof panels, geothermal heating, an open floor design and natural heating and lighting from the sun to provide the kind of comfort and lifestyle many people in a country such as the United States have come to expect.
That, along with its affordability, gives Lumenhaus market viability, says McCalla, who recently graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in architecture. Virginia Tech is the common name for the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia.
“Our intent with the house was that you wouldn’t have to sacrifice anything you’re used to,” McCalla said. “A lot of houses that try to be energy efficient become tight boxes with few windows, but we decided to make it as light as possible because that makes it look larger than it really is.”
That, along with its affordability, gives Lumenhaus market viability, says McCalla, who recently graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in architecture. Virginia Tech is the common name for the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia.
“Our intent with the house was that you wouldn’t have to sacrifice anything you’re used to,” McCalla said. “A lot of houses that try to be energy efficient become tight boxes with few windows, but we decided to make it as light as possible because that makes it look larger than it really is.”
The team of three faculty members and 16 students who traveled to Madrid topped 16 other solar houses built by university teams from six other countries: China, Finland, France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. But the competition was close. Virginia Tech beat Germany’s University of Applied Sciences Rosenheim by less than one point. That was still a big leap forward for Lumenhaus, which had finished 13th when the Solar Decathlon was held in Washington in 2009. Video from that competition is available on YouTube.
The Virginia Tech students had a hunch they were on the right track after their house design was invited to the National Building Museum in Washington in 2009, and then to Times Square in New York in January where it was on display for 48 hours.
The Solar Decathlon was created by the U.S. Department of Energy in the late 1990s, and the first event took place on the National Mall in Washington in 2002. This was the first year Spain hosted the competition after the U.S. and Spanish governments agreed to alternate the event between their countries. The purpose of the Solar Decathlon is to encourage students to invest time and skills in a new generation of sustainable homes.
The Virginia Tech students had a hunch they were on the right track after their house design was invited to the National Building Museum in Washington in 2009, and then to Times Square in New York in January where it was on display for 48 hours.
The Solar Decathlon was created by the U.S. Department of Energy in the late 1990s, and the first event took place on the National Mall in Washington in 2002. This was the first year Spain hosted the competition after the U.S. and Spanish governments agreed to alternate the event between their countries. The purpose of the Solar Decathlon is to encourage students to invest time and skills in a new generation of sustainable homes.
“These students are tomorrow’s leaders in helping develop a clean-energy economy,” Steven Chu, the U.S. secretary of energy, said when announcing the 2011 competition teams a few months ago. “Their innovative projects will help raise public awareness about energy efficiency, help save consumers money and reduce carbon pollution.”
SOLAR POWER FOR THE GRID
To maximize natural light and heat, the north and south sides of the Lumenhaus are built with glass walls. Automatic sliding panels filter the sunlight and adjust to changing weather conditions or privacy needs, keeping indoor temperatures even. The photovoltaic panels on the roof produce a net surplus of electricity for the house, which means the homeowner can sell excess power back to the grid. The geothermal system, meanwhile, provides warm water and radiant heating in the concrete slab that makes up the floor of the house.
To maximize natural light and heat, the north and south sides of the Lumenhaus are built with glass walls. Automatic sliding panels filter the sunlight and adjust to changing weather conditions or privacy needs, keeping indoor temperatures even. The photovoltaic panels on the roof produce a net surplus of electricity for the house, which means the homeowner can sell excess power back to the grid. The geothermal system, meanwhile, provides warm water and radiant heating in the concrete slab that makes up the floor of the house.
At 650 square feet (60 square meters), the one-bedroom, rectangular house is designed to make the best use possible of all spaces. The kitchen counter can be pulled out and become a bar, for example. But the home is also modular, which means one house can be stacked on top of another to create more space for growing families, or even multifamily homes. One module, if mass produced in a factory, would cost about $250,000, making it affordable in certain markets in the United States and beyond, McCalla said.
The young architect plans to continue to work on sustainable designs for the residential or commercial markets. “I don’t think [there is] any architect nowadays that would not focus on energy efficiency,” McCalla said. “And with the price of solar coming down and laws changing to make it more accessible for people, the market will grow. Plus, there are so many other ways for capturing energy now that are better than using coal and oil.”
According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, the nation’s solar energy capacity grew 36 percent in 2009, thanks in part to government investments and subsidies. On July 3, for example, the U.S. Department of Energy announced a $1.45 billion loan guarantee to Abengoa Solar, a company that plans to build a 250-megawatt solar power generating station in the Arizona desert, the first of its kind.
Photo caption: Virginia Tech’s solar-powered house was on display in New York’s Times Square earlier this year.
Photo credit: Virginia Tech
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