With motivation that hits close to home, the Stevens Solar Decathlon Team is learning from their previous mistakes and hoping to bring home the gold in 2015.
Two members of Stevens Institute of Technology’s Solar Decathlon Team presented the university’s third consecutive entry into the U.S. Department of Energy’s biennial competition on Wednesday, the second anniversary of Hurricane Sandy. Titled the SURE House, their building was not only designed to run purely on solar energy, as is required by the national competition, but also to withstand future storms and flooding such as was experienced during Sandy. Coming off of a fourth-place finish in 2013 and two first-places in individual categories in 2011, the team of 60 led by Professor John Nastasi has high hopes coming into the 2015 competition.
Graduate student in the Product Architecture and Engineering program Alex Guimaraes cites the narration, a component of one of the ten categories on which the houses are judged, as one of the shortcomings of Stevens’ previous entries.
“In the past we were just building a solar-generated house,” said Guimaraes. “Now we feel really confident in the story behind the house.”
The SURE House, which is named with both the hard-hit shore communities and the house’s sutainability and resiliency in mind, works on the principle of bi-folding structurally insulated panels that act as protective shutters and are made out of essentially the same materials as boats.
Sponsorship manager and sophomore business and technology student Sarah Gleason believes that the motivation behind SURE House has also helped with acquiring sponsors to raise funds for the near $2 million research project.
“[The concept of a coastal house] helped get companies involved, and people are a lot more engaged,” said Gleason. “Hurricane Sandy hits close to home.”
According to the team’s website, the panels can be closed in the event of another storm to prevent the damage that over 350,000 homes experienced two years ago; however, during summer and winter, the panels can be used in such a way to reduce heating and cooling costs.
“The shutters can only be closed from the outside,” said Guimaraes. “This encourages people to lock down, leave, and come back knowing their house is still there.”
After the competition, the 1,000 square foot, two bedroom, one bath house will be placed in one of the communities along the New Jersey coastline and will allegedly make FEMA’s requiring coastal houses to be placed on stilts unnecessary.
“We are using this house as a prototype to show that this could be replicated,” said Guimaraes.
In addition to a better narration, the Stevens team has adjusted their timeline to allow for more testing of the house.
“We are moving up the schedule three to four months to run the same sort of tests [as at the national competition] up to three times over the summer,” said Guimaraes. “By the time we get to California and rebuild the house we will be able to anticipate [what is going to happen].”
Following the submission of their design proposal to the DOE in December of 2013, the team plans to begin construction in January. The project will begin in the Griffith Building and then moved to the parking lot. Once competition time comes around, the house will be loaded onto trucks and shipped out to California where the team will have to reconstruct the house for judging.
The Solar Decathlon, started in 2002, is designed to educate students and the public about the “money saving opportunities and environmental benefits presented by clean-energy products and design solutions,” as well as “demonstrate…the comfort and affordability” of energy-efficient homes according to the Solar Decathlon website.
Teams have two years to create and build houses that are judged in ten categories that range from architecture to market appeal in order to assess the livability and affordability of each house.
The competition also places a focus on each team’s community outreach and education, and likewise, Gleason believes community involvement is an integral part.
“Engaging the community in this project is really important to us,” said Gleason. “My goal is to go to companies and make everyone aware.”
As sponsorship manager, Gleason got involved in the project when she was looking for summer research through the scholars program. Her job is to manage fundraising and outreach, but she has learned quite a bit about other subjects outside of her own wheelhouse.
“It’s a super multidisciplinary project,” said Gleason. “I’ve improved my presentation skills and been able to meet a lot of people passionate about sustainability, but I’ve definitely had to learn a lot about engineering and architecture.”
In 2015, Stevens will be up against 17 other teams comprised of different universities including the University of Texas at Austin, Vanderbilt University, and Yale University; however, the team is not worried about any university in particular.
“I don’t think there’s anyone specific we are watching out for,” said Gleason. “We are trying to bring the best house we can. The focus is on us.”
To stay updated with the SURE House, follow the team on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
