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ASU-UNM team ready for prestigious Solar Decathlon competition

ASU-UNM team ready for prestigious Solar Decathlon competition

Posted: September 23, 2013

Culminating almost two years of work, Arizona State University’s first solar decathlon team is prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy 2013 Solar Decathlon competition Oct. 3-13 in Irvine, Calif.

The effort is a collaboration among students in design, architecture, construction and engineering at ASU and the University of New Mexico—called ASUNM—focusing on “building materials and energy systems that are appropriate for the desert Southwest—a part of the country expected to see continued population growth over the coming decades.”

Celebrating the Southwest

The team’s project, called SHADE—Solar Homes Adapting for Desert Equilibrium—is an 850-square-foot model home featuring innovations to promote sustainable living.

“Being in the Southwest, we recognize that there are a lot of common challenges to building a sustainable home,” says Matt Fraser, one of the team’s faculty mentors. “We have a combination of architectural approaches and engineering approaches that make this house suitable for the urban Southwest.”

A team of students from Arizona State University and the University of New Mexico are prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy 2013 Solar Decathlon with their model home —Solar Homes Adapting for Desert Equilibrium.

A team of students from Arizona State University and the University of New Mexico is prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy 2013 Solar Decathlon with their model home —Solar Homes Adapting for Desert Equilibrium.

Fraser is a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, one of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at ASU.

Among the home’s features:

  • A large shade structure on the south side of the home holds photovoltaic panels, providing both electricity generation and shade.
  • A radiant cooling system circulates chilled fluid through the ceiling rather than using forced air-cooling to reduce interior temperature.
  • Thermal storage enables more cost-effective use of energy by storing cooler nighttime energy and using it during the warmer daytime hours.
  • A network of sensors monitors power consumption and optimizes power management.

The house is also designed to maximize efficient use of space—its small footprint providing greater “effective square footage” through flexible living space and modularity.

“There has been a great increase in the size of homes,” Fraser adds. “Our approach is to make the space more usable.”

The 850-square-foot home is designed to maximize efficient use of space and includes innovative features such as a radiant cooling system in the ceiling.

The 850-square-foot home is designed to maximize efficient use of space and includes innovative features such as a radiant cooling system in the ceiling.

“We wanted to tackle infill lots in the desert Southwest, specifically Phoenix and Albuquerque,” says John Cribbs, a master’s student in architecture at ASU and the team’s architecture manager. “Our target market is a retired active couple. We wanted the space to adapt to what that client will need.”

One large “flex space” functions as multiple rooms. The living room can be used as an office during the day and a bedroom at night, using a desk that drops out of the wall or can be rotated 180 degrees for a bed. The area also flows into the dining room to provide ample space for entertaining. Additional rooms include a full kitchen, bedroom and bathroom.

Large doors and patios encourage indoor/outdoor living and facilitate airflow inside the home.

To minimize water use, SHADE uses predominantly desert landscaping. Rainwater is captured and used to water plants through a gravity-fed hose.

Alia Taqi, communications manager for the team and an ASU master’s student pursuing degrees in the built environment and architecture, says the team’s landscaping concept was derived from studying how some Southwestern vegetation provides shade for other plants. “The concept came from the mesquite tree, which shades and nurtures the saguaro cactus,” Taqi says.

A comprehensive challenge

The Solar Decathlon has been held every two years since 2002. The highly competitive event invites collegiate teams from around the world to submit proposals to design, build and operate energy-efficient houses that are both cost-effective and attractive. Twenty teams are chosen to compete.

“The Solar Decathlon program is all about challenging students and harnessing their enthusiasm and ideas,” Fraser says.

“At the beginning our design ideas were all over the place,” says faculty mentor Olga Lavrova, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of New Mexico. “The students had to realize that in real life you have to narrow those ideas down. There are social, economic and environmental considerations.”

Similar to scoring at the Olympic Games, the teams are judged on 10 contests designed to gauge design performance and the livability features of the structures. Technical measures such as energy balance and architecture are blended with measures such as market appeal and affordability.

“Part of it is to get students excited so that they design the house, build the house, then show the marketability so people really want to live in a house like this,” Fraser says.

One additional challenge is transportation. The team has built the model home in Phoenix and must transport and re-assemble the entire structure at the event in Irvine.

Alia Taqi, team ASUNM's communications manager, leads a ribbon cutting ceremony held at the team's construction site, Accelerated Construction Technologies, in August.

Alia Taqi, team ASUNM’s communications manager, leads a ribbon cutting ceremony held at the team’s construction site, Accelerated Construction Technologies, in August.

Educating students and the public

The Solar Decathlon is an applied learning experience. Once the ASUNM team was selected for the competition, the students had to quickly move from planning to implementation—from logistics to materials to construction details. Along the way, the project drew support from numerous sponsors, many of them local companies.

The team brings together ASU’s Design School and UNM’s School of Architecture and Planning, and is one of the few Solar Decathlon groups that includes a construction team – four students from ASU’s Del E. Webb School of Construction Programs.

Gian Gonzalez, a construction management undergraduate in the Del E. Webb School says he brought his residential construction experience to the team.

“It started out with preconstruction logistics, like determining the maximum size that we could make the structure and still take it on the road, determining what materials would be best and scheduling work with the subcontractors who helped us out, and working to adapt what we saw on the blueprints to the actual construction of the building,” he says.

“One of my favorite moments was when we spent a weekend in 110-degree weather putting in the windows and doors. At the end, seeing what was just framed walls turn into something that looks just great was really exciting,” Gonzalez adds.

“As a construction student, I enjoy being able to have an open line of communication with design students and understanding the thought process of approaching a project,” he says. “From a construction viewpoint, we look at scheduling, estimating and materials. Where the design students look at functionality and the ambiance that you want to create.”

The team has also benefited from the expertise of engineers leading the Quantum Energy and Sustainable Solar Technologies (QESST) Engineering Research Center headquartered at ASU. QESST is a multi-university collaboration sponsored by the National Science Foundation and Department of Energy that is working to advance photovoltaic science and technology. UNM is one of the center’s partners.

“We want our students to be out there as the biggest enthusiasts for solar energy, for doing appropriate design in line with a desert climate so that the next generation of architects, developers and of home builders all take a different approach,” Fraser says.

“This really highlights 20 different approaches to building the next generation of houses,” Fraser says.

After the competition, the SHADE home will go to UNM for several months and later come back to Arizona. As part of the city of Phoenix PHX Renews sustainable living program, the structure will be put on public exhibit in central Phoenix as a model of sustainable living.

The 2013 competition in California is open to visitors each Thursday through Sunday during the 11-day event. For more information on the Solar Decathlon, visit solardecathlon.gov.

To learn more about SHADE, visit asunm.org.

 

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