Tech Topics - Winter 2007 - (Page 27) StudentLife TIFFANY SAVAGE SOLAR DECATHLON Georgia Tech students’ Solar Decathlon entry, assembled on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., features operable shading devices and panels with aerogel insulation and louvers. In the kitchen of the 700-square-foot house, below, left to right, are graduate architecture student Huafen Hu and architecture professors and advisers Franca Trubiano and Ruchi Choudhary. Energy house shines in world competition By Tiffany Savage A fter two years of planning, a year and a half of construction and one week of intensive tours and competitions, Georgia Tech students and faculty enjoyed their moment in the sun, finishing sixth in the world in the 2007 Solar Decathlon. The competition, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, focused on the creation of attractive, energyefficient and completely solar-powered homes. Twenty teams from around the world competed in 10 different competitions — architecture, engineering, market viability, communications, comfort zone, appliances, hot water, lighting, energy balance and “getting around.” Georgia Tech secured fourth place in the architectural competition and was noted for the innovative use of materials and technologies as well as an “ambitious agenda … to make transparency work in a sustainable way.” Tech scored third in the “getting around” contest in which teams had to use energy generated by their homes to power a commercially available, street-legal electric car. Teams received points for each mile they completed. Fifth place was awarded to Tech in the communications category for the team’s ability to relay the technical aspects of the home to the public through tours and its Web site. Tech’s team included students from the College of Architecture, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, School of Biology and the Institute for Sustainable Technology and Development and was led by architecture professors Ruchi Choudhary, Franca Trubiano and Chris Jarrett and associate professor Russell Gentry of the Advanced Wood Products Lab. The 700-square-foot house was first constructed on the Tech campus, then dismantled and transported to Washington, D.C., where it was erected with the other entries in a “solar village” on the National Mall. After the weeklong decathlon competition in mid-October, the house was again taken down and returned to Atlanta to be reassembled for public viewing. “More and more people are aware of how important environmental issues are, how important energy is in all of our lives individually, as nations, as a planet,” said juror Gregory Kiss. “There is a healthy and growing interest and movement in doing buildings that are green, and buildings really are one of the single biggest contributors to energy use and pollution in the world so this is a significant issue. “This very dynamic green building movement that we have generally has aspirations to do 10, 20, 50 percent better than normal buildings built today. What you see here is something way beyond that. This is a set of houses that have to function entirely on their own. They have to generate all of their own energy, they have to be self-contained systems in terms of water and waste and so on,” Kiss said. “The fact that these students have accomplished what they have is, I think, an incredible challenge to the rest of us — professionals, architects, engineers, builders and so on — to up the ante and try to do what these guys have done in our own work. The world will be a much better place if and when we succeed in that.” The roof on Tech’s house is made of nine ethylene tetrafluoraethylene panels filled with aerogel and was engineered to allow light in while still being thermally efficient. Above this layer is an operable shading system that supports both the photovoltaic cells and additional screens. The angle of the photovoltaic cells is adjusted throughout the day in order to capture the maximum amount of energy from the sun. The additional screens allow the remaining roof to be shaded as needed to prevent unwanted heat gain. The east and south walls are composed of polycarbonate panels, which also allow light to enter the home while remaining thermally efficient. The remaining southern facade is covered with additional solar panels. Tech also integrated a monitoring system that constantly checks the amount of solar energy being collected as well as energy being used for various functions throughout the house. “The cool part about the system is that we can interact with our simulation that we designed to the house. We are using that data to manage our energy,” said team member Prashanth Irudayaraj, ME 07. “Our system can also be controlled over the Internet anywhere in the world.” Another aspect of Tech’s design is its ability to support inhabitants at various points in their lives. The designers put particular focus on the midlife and older residents who would like a home that could change with them and keep them independent longer. “We tried to create a house that could grow with people,” said Amanda Cook, a graduate student in architecture. “It is a very accessible house with an open floor plan, (low) countertop height in the kitchen, the low appliances and the three exit doors and ramps.” The bathroom also can accommodate wheelchairs. In addition, Tech’s house incorporates evacuated tubes for water heating, rainwater collection, a mini-split heat pump and an energy-recovery ventilator. GT Tiffany Savage, a fourth-year architecture student, traveled to Washington, D.C., for the Solar Decathlon with her studio class, sponsored by Green Habitats Inc. TECHTOPICS | WINTER 2007 27
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