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NEWS
INDEX
Archives
2006
February
U. of I. students
to build solar home for contest in Washington, D. C.
Sharita
Forrest, News Editor
217-244-1072;slforres@uiuc.edu
2/15/06
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Click
photo to enlarge |
| Photo
by Clark Brooks |
| Leading
the U. of I. design team for the 2007 Solar Decathlon
are, from left, Michael T. McCulley, associate dean
for undergraduate affairs in the College of Fine and
Applied Arts; William C. Sullivan, director of the
Environmental Council; David Schejbal, associate vice
chancellor and director of the Offfice of Continuing
Education; and Ty A. Newell, assistant dean of engineering.
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CHAMPAIGN,
Ill. —– The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is
one of 20 universities selected to participate in the 2007
Solar Decathlon, a competition in which teams of students from colleges
and universities in the United States, Europe and Canada compete to
design, build and operate homes powered exclusively by solar energy.
During the fall of 2007, the teams will transport their homes to the
National Mall in Washington, D.C., where the homes will be reassembled
to form a solar village open to the public. The teams will compete in
a weeklong series of 10 contests, in which the homes will be judged
on their energy efficiency and energy production, architectural integrity,
livability, aesthetic appeal and integration of photovoltaic energy
systems.
Each 800-square-foot house must be self-sustaining and generate enough
solar electric and solar thermal energy to light, heat and cool the
house, maintaining temperatures and humidity within designated ranges;
provide hot running water; operate appliances and electronics; support
a home-based business and operate a street-legal, commercially available
electric vehicle provided by the organizers.
Although the teams won't live in the houses, they will have to carry
out typical tasks of daily living in them, such as doing dishes and
cooking a meal, in order to earn points. The teams also will be judged
on their documentation of their design processes and the communications
they create for the public, such as Web sites and newsletters, about
design, energy efficiency and solar energy.
The contests are judged by panels of jurists and judges that include
professionals in architecture, construction, marketing and design. The
team that scores the most points overall wins.
2007
Solar Decathlon Participants
International
teams
- Team Montreal (representing
Ecole de Technologie Superieure, Universite de
Montreal and McGill University), Canada
- Technische Universitat
Darmstadt, Germany
- Universidad de Puerto
Rico
- Universidad Politecnica
de Madrid, Spain
U.S. Teams
- 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
- Pennsylvania
State University
- Texas
A&M University
- University of Cincinnati
- University
of Colorado at Boulder*
- University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign
- University
of Maryland
- University
of Missouri at Rolla
- University
of Texas at Austin
*Winner of the 2002 and 2005 Solar Decathlons |
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“It's meant to be a display to people that being comfortable and
conserving energy aren't two different things, that we can build a house
that requires only 10 percent of the energy a typical house requires,
build it with today's technologies and show that it saves money, ”
said Ty A. Newell, assistant dean of engineering administration in
the College of Engineering.
“The exciting thing about this competition is that it brings together
highly diverse groups of students and faculty and staff members on campus
and includes opportunities to include schoolchildren, teachers, lawmakers
and the public,” said David Schejbal, associate vice chancellor
and director of the Office
of Continuing Education.
The University of Colorado, Boulder, won the inaugural Solar Decathlon
in 2002 and the second competition in 2005.
Organizing and leading the U. of I. team will be Schejbal; Newell; Michael
T. McCulley, associate dean for undergraduate affairs, College
of Fine and Applied Arts; William C. Sullivan, director of the Environmental
Council and interim director of the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant Program.
The Department of Energy awards each participating team $100,000 paid
over two years to help fund the project, with the participants responsible
for raising the remaining money needed for the project and competition.
The decathlon is a biennial event sponsored by the U.S. Department of
Energy in partnership with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory,
and other organizations, to further research, education and public awareness
about renewable energy and energy efficiency, to help reduce the cost
of solar-powered homes and help move solar energy technologies into
the marketplace more quickly.
For more information: Mike McCulley,
217-333-6061; Ty Newell, 217-333-1655;
David Schejbal, 217-333-1462;
Bill Sullivan, 217-244-5156.
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