Team of K-State Students in Washington, D.C., for 2007 Solar Decathlon
Reprinted Courtesy of K-State Media Relations and Marketing
A team of students from Kansas State University will be showing how purple can go green to win an international competition — and possibly provide some needed housing in a tornado-ravaged Kansas town.
K-State is among the 20 universities and colleges competing in the 2007 Solar Decathlon, where student teams design, build and operate homes that are powered entirely by the sun. The competition is October 12-20 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., but K-State and the other teams have already arrived to begin assembling their homes.
The K-State team is made up of mostly architecture students, but many other students from all departments of the College of Architecture, Planning and Design and some students from the College of Engineering have assisted with the project. Construction of the home actually began in the 2006-2007 school year. R. Todd Gabbard, assistant professor of architecture, has supervised the project, along with Larry Bowne, also an assistant professor of architecture. In addition, the team has received assistance from Ruth Miller, K-State associate professor of electrical and computer engineering.
K-State’s entry is an 800-square-foot home with solar panels, structurally insulated panels, skylights and energy-saving appliances. It was built to be trucked in one piece, with only its decking and solar panels needing installation once it reached Washington. While the trip took a little longer than expected — the team had to make detours for road construction, low bridges and other travel challenges — the home arrived without mishap and students have been getting it ready for the competition.
The Solar Decathlon features 10 contests, including architecture; engineering; how comfortable the home is inside, temperature-wise; how attractive and adequate its lighting is; do the appliances work — and work efficiently; can it provide enough hot water for a household; can it power an electric vehicle to meet transportation needs; and would the home be marketable and suitable for everyday living.
Once the competition is over and the K-State house comes back to Kansas, it may hit the road again to find a permanent place in Greensburg, where a tornado wiped out much of the town earlier this year.
The winning entry will announced Friday, October 19. Photos and a daily blog about what is happening at the competition are available at the Solar Decathlon Web site, http://www.solardecathlon.org
The competition’s main sponsor is the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Dennis Law, dean of K-State’s College of Architecture, Planning and Design, and Bruce Boce, the college’s director of development with the Kansas State University Foundation, will be in Washington October 15-19 to support the team. Several third-year architecture students at K-State also are helping the team in an unofficial capacity.
Members of K-State’s Solar Decathlon team include:
Brad Lutz, senior in electrical engineering, Andover; Clemente Jaquez-Herrera, graduate student in architecture, Garden City; Jacob Henley, graduate student in architecture, and Jessica Williams, graduate student in architecture, both of Manhattan; Tim Sherman, graduate student in interior architecture and product design, McPherson; Erin Wages, graduate student in architecture, Olathe; Collin Curry, fifth-year senior in architecture, Overland Park; and Skyler Bonser, graduate student in architecture, Wichita.
From out of state: Sally Maddock, graduate student in architecture, Lakewood, Colorado; Melody Jacobson, graduate student in architecture, Priest River, Idaho.
From Missouri: Aaron Vanderpool, fifth-year senior in architecture, Blue Springs; Malcolm Watkins, graduate student in architecture, Gower; Andrew Becker, graduate student in architecture, Nixa; and Jonathan Anderson, fifth-year senior in architecture, St. Louis.
Laura Wilke, graduate student in architecture, Columbus, Nebraska.