Editor’s Note: This entry has been cross-posted from DOE’s Energy Blog.

In honor of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon—which challenges 20 collegiate teams to design, build, and operate solar-powered houses that are cost-effective, energy-efficient, and attractive—we are profiling each of the 20 teams participating in the competition.

New Zealand is the first place morning light hits at the start of each new day—and now it is home to the first team from the Southern Hemisphere ever to compete in the Solar Decathlon.

The team, composed of students and faculty from Victoria University of Wellington, has looked to revamp an iconic symbol of New Zealand’s beach holiday lifestyle—the modest coastal “Kiwi bach.”

Dotted along New Zealand’s coastline lie thousands of cherished summer homes called bach (pronounced batch). Traditionally small and spare, these homes were made for summertime on the beach, where life takes place as much outside as it does inside.

By incorporating energy-efficient design strategies to keep energy consumption at a minimum, the team hopes to redefine what the bach symbolizes, not only as the ideal way to enjoy summer but also as a model of sustainable home design.

Although the traditional bach is meant to be enjoyed during the warmer months, the team’s house—which they’ve named First Light—is intended for year-round living. To ensure the interior stays comfortable regardless of weather conditions, the walls are insulated with locally sourced wool insulation made from sheep fibers.

An external canopy on the rooftop houses a solar water heater as well as polycrystalline solar panels durable enough to withstand harsh coastal storms. LED lights are used both inside and outside, and a centrally spaced skylight supplements with daylighting.

Members of the New Zealand Solar Decathlon team (Courtesy of the New Zealand team's Flickr photostream)

Soon enough, the team will have to prepare for the long (literally) journey ahead of packing up and shipping the house all the way to Washington, D.C. But for now, it can enjoy sharing with fellow New Zealanders its clean-energy take on a time-honored tradition.

Erin Pierce is an energy technology program specialist for the Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

Editor’s Note: This entry has been cross-posted from DOE’s Energy Blog.

In honor of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon—which challenges 20 collegiate teams to design, build, and operate solar-powered houses that are cost-effective, energy-efficient, and attractive—we are profiling each of the 20 teams participating in the competition.

The students from the Southern California Institute of Architecture and California Institute of Technology, otherwise known as the SCI-Arc/Caltech team, have teamed up to take an interesting approach to the design of their Solar Decathlon house. Unlike the other houses we’ve profiled, CHIP—which stands for Compact House Infinite Possibilities—looks nothing like a traditional home from the outside, but if all goes as planned, it will achieve energy balance for its occupants.

A model of the SCI-Arc/Caltech team's CHIP house. (Credit: All Commercial Photography/U.S.
Department of Energy Solar Decathlon)

In what can only be described as a truly “out of the box” approach to the design of the house (pun intended), the SCI-Arc/Caltech team has wrapped the polygonal house in a “skin” that acts as what the team refers to as “outsulation.” This skin is a system of cellulose-filled batts fastened in layers to the outside surface of the roof (underneath the house’s 235-W photovoltaic panels) and exterior walls. This forms a shell, which is wrapped in airtight and water-resistant, architectural-grade, polymer-coated vinyl.

Inside the house, the team has designed a stepped interior, which is divided into a series of platforms terraced upward and inward from most public to most private. The CHIP team is taking its house to new levels—the top and outermost of which serves as the bedroom, where upon awakening the occupant experiences a downhill  progression via each level, which are bed/groom/dress/eat/live/work, and then backward in the evening.

In addition to the solar panels on the roof of the house, CHIP is filled with technologies that reduce its energy footprint. One innovative technology inside the house is the thermal integration between the HVAC heat pump, which extracts heat from the interior of the house, and the domestic hot water heat pump, which dumps heat into hot water. By using the waste heat from the air-source heat pump to heat hot water, the team says the house will see “tremendous energy savings while fully satisfying air conditioning and hot water demands.”

The SCI-Arc/Caltech team stands in front of CHIP. (Courtesy of the SCI-Arc/Caltech team)

Other energy-saving technologies include a lighting strategy that takes full advantage of natural sunlight through solar tubes and light louvers and uses energy-saving LEDs and CFLs during nighttime hours. CHIP also has a state-of-the-art home automation system that is able to monitor every watt of electricity used by the house and then visually communicate the information to its occupants. CHIP is even connected to the Internet, which means the house can receive weather-forecast information, which allows it to predict cloudy skies and conserve power generated by its solar panels during peak sunlight hours. The team says this system plays a central role in “optimizing the behavior of the house” and is able to “control operation of the active thermal mass, shutting down appliances or lights that are no longer used, and gives the occupants an instant understanding of their energy use and, in turn, their energy bill.”

The CHIP team held a groundbreaking ceremony April 2 at the SCI-Arc campus in Los Angeles and since then has kept busy with various fundraising and awareness events, construction of the home, and further design elements—all while keeping up with a regular course schedule.

April Saylor is an online content producer and contractor to the Department of Energy Office of Public Affairs.

Editor’s Note: This entry has been cross-posted from DOE’s Energy Blog.

In honor of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon—which challenges 20 collegiate teams to design, build, and operate solar-powered houses that are cost-effective, energy-efficient, and attractive—we are profiling each of the 20 teams participating in the competition.

One of the newest teams to the Solar Decathlon is Purdue University of Lafayette, Indiana. The fresh team has joined to rally against many of its Big Ten competitors and prove that, even without an architecture program, Purdue can succeed on the National Mall.

Purdue's IN Home team takes a break during its "topping out" party. (Note the little tree on the roof of the house.) (Courtesy of the Purdue Solar Decathlon team)

Starting with just four students in 2009, Purdue’s team has grown to a group of 200 people planning, designing, engineering, and building over the past two years. To get the inside scoop, we spoke with Project Manager Kevin Rodgers about Purdue’s ultra-efficient IN Home (Indiana Home).

Purdue’s Solar Decathlon team is using three words to describe In Home: efficiency, practical, and essential.

“We are going with a home that is very realistic but appealing to a specific Midwestern style to fit in most neighborhoods,” said Rodgers, who also works as a mechanical engineering technology research assistant.

IN Home will showcase a very practical design during the 2011 competition.

“Our home is very unique in that it’s very deep,” said Rodgers. “Usually, Solar Decathlon homes are very long for transport. We wanted our home to look more traditional, so we sat down with some engineers and designers to make it feasible. It’s almost a square floor plan and feels more like a real home instead of something designed for being on the road.”

The house is also unique in that it is the first to feature an attached, single-vehicle garage—something most residents of Indiana find a necessity.

The house features all-electric, high-efficiency appliances; structural insulated panels in the walls and floors;  and triple-paned, operable windows above high ceilings, with passive design in mind to allow for optimal ventilation in the summer and heating through the windows in the winter. The entire house is powered by an 8.6-kilowatt solar electric system on the roof.

IN Home has one master bedroom, an office that can be converted into a second bedroom, one bath, a kitchen, a living room, a utility room, and the attached garage. Outside of the house are gardening areas, wheelchair-accessible ramps, and a deck patio. At 990 ft², In Home maximizes space with a price point just less than $250,000.

A model of IN Home sits in front of the house during construction. (Courtesy of the Purdue Solar Decathlon team)

Rodgers says he loves that the Affordability Contest was added to the 2011 competition and that Purdue looks forward to doing well in this category as well as in Engineering and Market Appeal.

But not all has been easy for the Purdue team. One of its largest challenges was fundraising for the event during a recession.

“The Department of Energy gives us a certain amount, but the rest is up to the team while building and designing the house. Even organizing the monster that is the Solar Decathlon is a very time-consuming project,” said Rodgers.

In addition, Purdue’s team faced another challenge. Most Solar Decathlon teams are started by university architecture schools. Rodgers said Purdue needed to come up with another way around it.

“We had a faculty adviser who was an architect, and interior design students help design and plan our home,” he said.

Two years and 200 students from six Purdue schools later, Purdue threw its topping out party in April.

“I think we will do very well. We will be very good. … I think the public can make a connection between this home and their own, and that’s very good for the team,” said Rodgers.

After the competition, Purdue University’s IN Home will be situated in LaFayette, Indiana, where it was built and donated to a family for long-term research.

Erik Hyrkas is a correspondence writer for the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.