Sun house - the work of university students

Students of Boston Architecture University and Tuffs University brought to the Solar Energy a work representing New England: a solar home called Curio. This is one of twenty entries among universities competing for the best solar home of the year.

Early next month, the solar home will be dismantled and reassembled at National Mall, Washington DC, where it will be evaluated and scored within 10 days. The house designed by students will be widely introduced to the public and will be scored based on criteria such as design appeal, development ability in terms of marketing, energy efficiency, and the extra electricity that the house creates.

The budget for designing the New England team's 800 m2 home is about 200,000 US dollars, and they hope the house's price can also be equivalent to that number, not counting energy collectors Sun. The selling price could make the work more affordable than the German competition in 2007 with the amount of 1.2 million US dollars.

Boston university students have been working hard on this project for two years. They cut costs by purchasing widely available products at building material stores, using simple, easy-to-assemble modular designs. The most expensive materials are a strip of 28 solar photovoltaic panels and 5 solar panels to heat the house and provide hot water.

Matt Thoms, a Tufts University student, plays the director of the Curio house project, saying that his team wants to build a useful home right now, not a house will have on the market in the next five or ten years.

Simulation of the sun house. (Photo: livecurio.us)

Students also want to design a home that is suitable for life in both rural and urban areas, not only for people living in rural areas, outside the grid coverage. With that idea, the house is designed for couples with a small child, it has shields on the front floor and the rear arch creates privacy for the house.

The house has the technology of urban houses today, like the standard Ethernet network, but the house also has a small garden irrigated with rainwater to encourage homeowners to grow some food crops in the spirit of of sustainable development.

The photovoltaic panels provide 6.4 kW, a greater amount of power than if the house were to be connected to the grid, however in this competition the house must promote its capacity within 10 days without grid . There is a lot of work to be done, such as for evening movie screening in the entertainment system or washing 10 clothes in the above time period. The battery packs charged by solar panels will power the house in the evening and cloudy days.

The Curio house is well protected to reduce the need for cooling or heating, and it is designed to suit energy-saving lighting fixtures and items. The house is also equipped with outdoor blinds in the south, these blinds can be adjusted to allow sunlight to enter the house, bringing light and warmth to the people living in it. With these features, students expect that the amount of electricity used will be only one-third of that of a typical US home with the same size.

The group of students emphasized that this house was designed to be perfectly suited to the financial ability of consumers , and they found a buyer, because this house will become the first home in the project ' green community '. The building will probably be more widely used for the design of other houses and apartments.

The solar competition is held every two years and is run by the US National Energy Department.