A Power-Full Challenge for UC Students: Build a Solar House

University of Cincinnati students are in a heated raced against their counterparts at schools throughout the United States, Canada, Germany and Spain to build the best solar house in the world.

UC is one of 20 international competitors participating in the

Solar Decathlon

, a contest among the world’s best design, engineering and business programs to envision, build and then finally display a fully functioning, completely solar-powered house. The final collection of homes will be exhibited on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in October 2007.

Students from UC’s internationally recognized College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning, from the College of Engineering and the College of Business are working in close cooperation to design the structure and its innovative systems and to cost out materials as well as return on investments for various aspects of the project.

“It’s a complete challenge in every sense, from a design perspective, engineering perspective and business perspective,” according to Anton Harfmann, DAAP associate dean, who is just one of the faculty members contributing along with the students.

He’s echoed by the students who have worked on the project since early in 2006. “I especially like that this competition is a complete design project, not just a piece of one,” said architecture graduate student Justin Rabe, 31, of Dallas, Tx., who worked on the project this past summer. He added, “The students are doing it all; from inception through construction. Our school is so highly ranked nationally that a lot’s expected of us. We could really win this, and I’d really like to.”

Engineering student Brian Zimmerly, 23, of Lima, Ohio, figures he’s already a winner with his participation in the Solar Decathlon project. He began working on the project last spring, and will continue with it throughout this academic year, in part, because of the possible career boost it may bring. He said, “We’re gaining a unique set of skills and knowledge in what’s essentially a high-growth industry: Solar technology and sustainable design and engineering. And all the academic disciplines we represent as students are in this together. This isn’t where I do one part and hand it off to a designer, or he hands it off to me. There’s no separation of skills.”

Nor ducking of any responsibility. Both Zimmerly and fellow engineering student Andy Schroder, 22, of Ft. Mitchell, Ky., admitted that with the Solar Decathlon challenge, “there’s no looking up the answer. You can spend hours researching an idea, and then, in the end, what you were planning won’t work out. But you can’t quit,” said Schroder.

Especially since UC is up against 19 contenders to win the Solar Decathlon, including Carnegie Mellon University, Cornell University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The final results of the schools’ efforts will be judged on 10 specific criteria – hence the name of the competition: Solar Decathlon – related to such factors as architectural aesthetics, livability, engineering, appliance efficiency, use of organic materials, innovation and energy production.

The UC-built house will encompass about 800 square feet, and though the house will be small, it represents both a big challenge and even bigger opportunities for creativity. For instance, the team from UC is developing high-powered design and engineering ideas they hope will reshape green building techniques and solar-use equipment – and of course win them the Washington, D.C., competition.

“Real-world needs are driving every decision,” stated Tom Rudary, 25, an architecture graduate student from Rochester Hills, Mich. He even joked that he means that both literally and figuratively since the house the students build must eventually be broken into five parts and driven to Washington, D.C. “What I may finally learn from this project is that I never want to drive a house across the country again.”

A first model of the home is now complete, and it can be broken into four distinct parts for transport. Other innovations the students are developing include roofing advances, unusual uses of evacuated tubes to create thermal energy and a unique thermal electric heat pump that could be used to cool and dehumidify the house.

The students will continue designing and refining the structure, systems and appliances and will begin actual construction next spring in Northside. In the end, come October 2007, they’ll have worked for nearly two years to complete the project.

But, it will have all been worth it, according to engineering student Andy Schroder. “I want to have cheap electricity,” he said.

Solar Decathlon participants who have been working on the project continuously since late last year include

Faculty

• Fred Beyette, associate professor of electrical engineering
• Terry Boling, assistant professor of architecture
• Anton Harfmann, DAAP associate dean
• Mike Kazmierczak, associate professor of mechanical engineering
• Dale Murray, associate professor of industrial design
• B.J. Zirger, associate professor of management

Student leaders

• Chistopher Davis, architecture graduate student
• Darin Hunter, design graduate student
• Brian Meyers, business student
• Jeremy Smith, electrical engineering senior
• Carly Weiler, business student
• Brian Zimmerly, mechanical engineering student

Other long-term student participants

• Althea Aarden, architecture graduate student
• Luke Field, architecture graduate student
• Adam Fuson, engineering graduate student
• Abhishek Gupta, engineering graduate student
• Ben Meyers, architecture graduate student
• Matt Mutchler, architecture graduate student
• Ben Prince, digital design student
• Prachi Rojatkar, engineering graduate student
• Tom Rudary, architecture graduate student
• Andy Schroder, mechanical engineering senior
• Jacqueline Squires, architecture graduate student
• Eric Stear, architecture graduate student

National Solar Decathlon sponsors

• U.S. Department of Energy
• American Institute of Architects
• BP
• DIY Network
• Honeywell International
• National Association of Home Builders
• Sprint

The following schools were selected to compete in the 2007 Solar Decathlon

• University of Cincinnati
• California Polytechnic State University
• Carnegie Mellon University
• Cornell University
• Georgia Institute of Technology
• Kansas State University
• Lawrence Technological University
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• New York Institute of Technology
• Team Montreal (consisting of Ecole de Technologie Superieure, the University of Montreal and McGill University)
• Technische Universitat Darmstadt (Germany)
• Texas A&M University
• Pennsylvania State University
• Universidad de Puerto Rico
• Universidad Politecnica de Madrid (Spain)
• University of Colorado at Boulder
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Univerity of Maryland at College Park
• University of Missouri at Rolla
• University of Texas at Austin