Rendering of Cornell's Solar House

Cornell’s entry to the Department of Energy’s 2009 Solar Decathlon takes a slightly unusual approach to home-building. The premise of the competition is to design, engineer, market, and build a home that is 100% solar-powered.

The competition sumamry, from the DOE’s website:

For three weeks in October 2009, the U.S. Department of Energy will host the Solar Decathlon—a competition in which 20 teams of college and university students compete to design, build, and operate the most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered house. The Solar Decathlon is also an event to which the public is invited to observe the powerful combination of solar energy, energy efficiency, and the best in home design.

Here is an article published in the Cornell Chronicle on Wednesday, May 20, 2009. “Cornell’s new solar house goes round and round“, copied below, in full:

The designers of Cornell’s new solar house have gone outside the box for their entry in the 2009 Solar Decathlon, a biennial competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in October.

The house — now taking shape at the High Voltage Lab (HVL) just off campus — comprises three separate circular interior spaces that can be closed off to maximize heating and cooling efficiency or opened up to make one large space around a central courtyard.

The steel-framed “rustic chic” design will feature corrugated steel cladding on the house exterior, underground water tanks, a landscape of tall grasses and sedges and a system of hydroponic planter trays that will filter gray water into potable water.

“You’re not going to see another house like this on the mall,” said Christopher Werner, M.Arch. ’09. “This is our third competition, and we were tired of doing boxes. We decided to do a whole new take on modularity.”

Cornell’s decathlon team placed second in the 2005 competition and 19th in 2007. Werner said Cornell responded to a proposal request just two weeks after the 2007 competition ended and was again selected to compete. An architecture design studio course followed, and decathlon team adviser Matt Ulinski led a Solar Lab engineering course to familiarize students with systems planned for the house. A wooden mockup was built at HVL to test some of the design features.

“This design is much more complex, but we have a very well-thought-out design plan,” said Ulinski, director of the Hansen lab in mechanical and aerospace engineering.

The interdisciplinary team has been operating under budget constraints but will work through the summer without paid internships. About 40 students have committed to part-time volunteer work, and another 10-15 will work on the project full time, Werner said.

The team continues to conduct outreach efforts with local youth groups and has held fundraisers in New York City and Washington, D.C., he said.

The house will make its public debut in August at the New York State Fair in Syracuse, where the team will give tours and test the house’s various systems before the competition.

For more information, visit http://www.cusd.cornell.edu.

Categories: In the News
Tags: Competition, Cornell, Solar Decathlon
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