This past Saturday, after a week and a half of operating our home, Self-Reliance, and being evaluated in the 10 decathlon contests, Team Middlebury College was awarded fourth place in the Solar Decathlon competition. In addition to winning fourth place overall, our student-led team took first place in three of the 10 decathlon contests: Communications, Home Entertainment and Market Appeal. Team Middlebury College also placed fourth in the Architecture contest and five in Affordability, gaining the most juried contest points of any team.
 

Team Middlebury College was the first undergraduate liberal arts team to be accepted as a finalist into the Solar Decathlon competition without partnering with another institution. We are extremely proud that we performed as a top contender amongst teams from technical architecture and engineering institutions. We dreamed of finishing in the top five overall and being the little engine that could. We did it!  

In our original schematic design proposal, we described our vision of reinventing the New England farmhouse, a long-standing American symbol of home. With no idea of how we'd fare against other submissions, and an added application phase due to a surplus of proposals, we eagerly awaited a response from the DOE. On April 6, 2010, the announcement came. We were in! Enthusiastic screaming ensued… until a student stood up and said "Let's get to work!" 

Over the past year and half leading up to this year’s Solar Decathlon, we put ourselves to work. Long hours and hard decisions became even more tedious as our team continued to grow. Over 85 students from more than 25 different majors played an active role in the project. We drew on chemistry majors to do our materials research and English majors to write our fundraising materials, turning our perceived limitation as a liberal arts school into our greatest strength. Our interdisciplinary background encouraged us to take a unique approach towards the engineering challenge of creating a 100% net-zero energy home by incorporating our appreciation for the humanities into an integrated design process. 

We crafted our design around our target client: a young New England family of four. With a maximum of 1,000 square feet of finished floor space to work with, and the goal of having a separate children's bedroom, we allocated space efficiently. We maximized space with our southern-facing gable roof and added a loft as a storage and multipurpose area. We integrated a greenhouse-wall into the kitchen, allowing family members to grow their own produce from seed to plate. To reduce embodied energy, we incorporated local natural materials that are healthy for both the inhabitants and the surrounding environment. We employed passive techniques and simple active systems, with a user-friendly interface for parents and kids to observe their energy usage. Demonstrating that solar-powered homes can be comfortable and appealing for families was one of our team's top priorities at the 2011 Solar Decathlon. 

Selecting our solar panels was a big decision. We chose to partner with SunPower, an company that shares our commitment to renewable energy and environmental stewardship. SunPower was able to provide the highest solar panel efficiency for our project, generating more than 6.75 kW on a sunny day. Instead of consuming electricity generated from coal, natural gas, nuclear material or other non-renewable sources, Self-Reliance meets its energy needs with solar power – a clean, green technology that is available to home and business owners across the world. 

Team members installed our all black SunPower E18/225 solar panels during the construction of Self-Reliance this past summer in Middlebury, Vermont, then disassembled and reassembled the system for the competition in West Potomac Park on the National Mall and are currently disassembling the solar array for shipment back to Vermont.
 

This coming weekend, after the six-day disassembly process is complete, we will truck the eight modules of Self-Reliance back to the Middlebury College campus for final siting. Boreholes have already been drilled for a geothermal system and the permanent foundation is currently under construction.

Middlebury College will use the house for special interest housing, where students will apply to live on a per semester basis. Our home will serve as an environmental outreach center for dinners, speakers and educational events open to both the campus and the local community. It was incredible sharing our home with over 15,000 visitors on the National Mall. Now it's time to bring the house home, where it will continue to be an educational tool that demonstrates the livability and affordability of solar-powered homes.
 



















You can learn more about our team and Self-Reliance on our blog.
 

With 100 members, Team New York'11 is a multicultural and interdisciplinary Solar Decathlon team from the City College of New York, a college within the City University of New York. Composed of all undergraduate students, we are proud to have been the youngest and most student-engaged team in this year’s competition. Over 30 engineering students and 60 architecture students helped to make Solar Roofpod a reality. Approximately 10 faculty members from both schools served as advisors.

Originating from many different ethnicities, and residing all over New York City, Team New York included students from the standard disciplines of architecture and engineering, but also from communications, film, and graphic design. We, the students, were involved in every project phase and thoroughly engaged in all project tasks. My student teammates and I were responsible for everything from conception, design and drawings to communications deliverables, construction and operation.

Team New York participated in the Solar Decathlon to introduce the public to an urban concept for the first time in the competition’s history. Our design is unique, as it will serve not only as a single-family residence, but also as a piece of urban infrastructure. Solar Roofpod is a solution for our growing cities.

Our modular, flexible penthouse design uses lightweight, durable, renewable materials and incorporates photovoltaic (PV) technologies. We chose to use SunPower panels, as the company represents the ideals of our home, sustainability and energy efficiency. We installed a 10.08 kilowatt solar system with SunPower E19 / 240 solar panels to power the house during the competition.

Solar Roofpod is an urban prototype. Rooftops of buildings in cities are largely underutilized, yet they offer true potential as living spaces because of their direct access to sun, wind and water. Designed for flat rooftops of existing mid-rise residential or commercial buildings, Team New York's Solar Roofpod aims to enable eco-conscious urban dwellers to live sustainably, as stewards of a more resilient urban environment. Solar thermal collectors supply clean energy for hot water, heating and cooling, and an innovative monitoring and control system allows users to be energy efficient while maintaining a level of comfort inside the pod. Solar Roofpod’s design allows for the cost-effective collection and delivery of solar power (not only to the home, but also to the host building and the city’s power grid), cultivation of roof gardens and recycling of storm water.

Solar Roofpod was featured on “The Early Show” a national television show on CBS, and on New York 1 News. Our team’s design has appeared in approximately 100 print and web publications. Prior to the Solar Decathlon competition, we presented to high school and college students, as well as the Museum of the City of New York and the New York City Mayor’s Office. We also took part in several urban design expositions, such as the New York City Solar Summit, the Urban Green Exposition and the AIA Westchester Fair.

Solar Decathlon 2011 was a memorable experience for everyone on the team. The three weeks onsite in Washington DC consisted of assembly, public exhibition, contests and disassembly. Our team’s architecture and engineering students had to collaborate quickly to get the house assembled and operating. Once assembly was complete, the team conducted house tours for media, VIP guests and the general public. The Solar Roofpod received over 10,000 visitors in a period of ten days!

Though Team New York did not win the overall Solar Decathlon competition, Solar Roofpod was certainly a favorite amongst public visitors, who claimed the house was attractive and maintained a unique concept amongst all nineteen entries. The hands-on experience at Solar Decathlon 2011 has steered some team members towards more specific building industries, including construction management and sustainable design.

As Public Relations Manager for Team New York, I learned how to design with energy efficiency in mind and how to clearly communicate my ideas, since interviews and public tours were frequent throughout the Solar Decathlon. I am thrilled to report that our team placed fourth in the Communications category.
 

Solar Roofpod will be moved back to the City College of New York campus, where it was originally constructed, to be repurposed as a public exhibit to educate the community about sustainable design in the urban setting.
 

• Innovation through simplicity rather than complexity
• Longevity of materials and systems
• Working in an integrated collaborative design process
• Using singular technologies for multiple functions
• Generating context driven design solutions

If you have any questions or comments regarding our involvement in the AMORE rural electrification program or our Make an Impact campaign, please share below.