Students Building Solar House for National Contest

Reprinted Courtesy of K-State Media Relations and Marketing

A group of Kansas State University students and faculty are proving that an environmentally friendly house can feel like home.

The special house the K-State group is building is for the 2007 Solar Decathlon, an international competition that challenges university-based teams to design and construct a two-person home powered exclusively by the sun.

The competition, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, will culminate this fall when the K-State-built house will be loaded on a flatbed trailer and hauled more than 1,100 miles to Washington, D.C., where it will be displayed at the National Mall. K-State’s proposal was one of 20 chosen to compete. Work on the project began in spring 2006.

The house is an interdisciplinary effort at K-State: architecture students designed the structure; landscape architecture students are designing the grounds; interior architecture and product design students are designing the furnishings; and mechanical engineering students are designing the heating, air conditioning and ventilation system. In addition, classes at the University of Kansas are working on publicity and other aspects of the home.

The intense collaboration gives students a taste of what a real-world project is like, said R. Todd Gabbard, K-State assistant professor of architecture.

The 800-square-foot house is being built at an off-campus site donated by Jim McCullough of McCullough Development, Manhattan.

The home’s solar panels, which will power everything in the house from the water heater to the lights, are on the home’s sloping south facade. Solar panels usually are placed on the roof, but Gabbard said placing them on the side not only frees up space for skylights, but it also makes them more visible and serves to educate people about sustainability.

“You can operate a normal house just using solar power,” Gabbard said.

“The panels produce enough power to do any normal household activities.

You can cook, take a shower, wash and dry clothing — anything.”

The competition also requires teams to generate enough energy to power an electric car, Gabbard said.

The home will have Energy Star appliances, including a centrifugal dryer that spins water out of clothes, leaving them 95 percent dry in about two minutes. The house takes advantage of natural light when possible, including the bathroom’s light well — a horizontal window that juts out from the house — with a reflecting pool underneath to reflect the natural light.

Even the home’s construction materials are designed with minimal environmental impact in mind. In lieu of two-by-fours on the exterior of the house, the team is using factory-made panels consisting of polystyrene foam sandwiched between plywood. Gabbard said the material is not only light and energy efficient, but it also comes pre-cut to specifications, eliminating the waste that conventional site-built construction projects generate.

The group also is using many recycled and reclaimed materials, including salvaged wood from a demolished barn owned donated by Raymond and Rozella Bymaster, Vinita, Okla., the grandparents of K-State student Travina Saindon, a fifth-year student in architecture, Florrisant, Mo., who is working on the project.

Another mission of the design is to celebrate the Kansas landscape. The group took the state’s latitude into consideration when deciding where to place the solar panels for optimum efficiency. Landscape architecture students, working in conjunction with the Land Institute in Salina, specified native perennial plants in their site design to minimize the need for irrigation.

Space and mobility are other hallmarks of the project. With just 800 square feet to work with, Gabbard said the designers looked at space-saving methods like those commonly used in Japan. The features include built-in cabinetry, fold-away dining table and home office, and ample livable outdoor spaces like its 600-square-foot deck.

Because the home must be trucked to Washington, D.C., for the competition, mobility plays an important part in the design. The house is designed to be moved in one piece, making it not only easier to prepare at the competition, but also more flexible. Because the house provides its own energy supply, Gabbard said such a home could be used in remote places without power.

This fall, the group will have five days to put the house together on site in Washington, D.C. As part of the competition, the group will wash clothes, cook a meal and do other household chores to demonstrate the home’s livability. After the competition, the group plans to display the home in locations across so that Kansans can learn how it’s possible to feel at home in a solar-powered and energy-efficient house.

“Making the house livable is important,” said Kelly Moore, fifth-year student in architecture, Independence, Mo. “We really had to think about comfort. We’re creating a modular home that’s visually compelling and beautiful but appealing to people from all walks of life.”

More information about the solar decathlon can be found at http://solarhouse.capd.ksu.edu/ or at http://www.eere.energy.gov/solar_decathlon/.

For more information, contact:
R. Todd Gabbard, 785.532.1129
Diane Potts, 785.532.1090