Competing in the 2011 Solar Decathlon

This paper explains the benefits and challenges for Engineering Technology programs that take leadership roles in multidisciplinary design competitions that are increasingly popular on university campuses. The context for this analysis is the 2011 Solar Decathlon, a high-profile international competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy where university students design, build, and demonstrate solar powered homes that are fully operational and cost effective. This event is held every other year on the National Mall in Washington, DC and draws in excess of 300,000 spectators plus significant national and international media coverage. This paper will discuss one team’s strategy for competing successfully and provide insight about what that other Engineering Technology programs can expect by participating in future Solar Decathlons or similar events. What is the Solar Decathlon? Over the past 20 years, design competitions sponsored by professional societies or federal agencies have become increasing popular. From solar powered cars to autonomous vehicles, thousands of university students participate annually in contests that apply classroom knowledge to real world projects. It’s easy to see why these problem based learning opportunities are so appealing to students. The work is hands-on, collaborative, and creative, features that likely attracted them to their technical major in the first place. 1 Among all the popular student competitions, the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon might be the biggest overall event. Twenty teams of university students are selected to design, build, and demonstrate their own version of a solar powered home. Although the homes are limited to 1,000 ft 2 in size; they are fully operational in every respect. Since its inception in 2002, this event has been held every other year in September on the National Mall in Washington, DC where it draws in excess of 300,000 spectators plus significant national and international media coverage. 2 The Solar Decathlon is part of DOE’s strategy for gradually moving the market for residential buildings closer to net zero energy. In other words, the goal is that homes in the not too distant future will use renewable energy, typically solar and wind, to generate as much onsite energy as they consume on an annual basis. The final year of the Solar Decathlon is planned for 2020; by that time it is hoped that the technologies for net zero energy homes will have become commercially viable and cost effective. Figure 1 gives an idea of the scale of the event. It was taken during the final phases of construction for the most recent 2011 competition that was held in West Potomac Park, which is located between the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials and adjacent to the new Martin Luther King Memorial in Washington, DC. Student teams had one week to assemble their houses and have them fully inspected before the competition started. The house in the foreground is the entry from the University of Maryland that ultimately won the competition, but international entries from Belgium, China, and Canada are also prominent in the picture. P ge 25335.2 Figure 1. The 2011 Solar Decathlon took place in West Potomac Park in Washington, D.C. The name “Solar Decathlon” is used because the winning team is the one with the highest cumulative score in ten different events. Table 1 shows how the scoring was broken down for 2011. Half of the contests were measured and the other half were subjectively evaluated by a jury. All contests had the same point basis. Table 1. The Solar Decathlon had 10 contests. Measured Contests Juried Contests Appliances Engineering Hot Water Architecture Comfort Zone Market Appeal Energy Balance Communications Affordability Home Entertainment The “Affordability” contest was particularly compelling for 2011. To emphasize the importance of cost effective net zero energy construction, the DOE imposed a cost ceiling of $250,000 on all homes and hired an estimating firm to conduct independent appraisals. Homes that were over budget got penalized on a pro-rated basis. Solar Decathlon Competition A paper presented at the 2011 ASEE Annual Conference discussed our team’s organizational strategy and planning for the Solar Decathlon through 2010. 3 By the spring of 2011, work had shifted to construction planning, including ideas for disassembly and transporting the home. Actual construction began in April of 2011 and the home was essentially complete by July. Although students were heavily involved in all phases of the project, some aspects of construction were completed by outside contractors. This schedule allowed about two months of commissioning work to make sure all aspects of the home were fully operational. P ge 25335.3 One of the more challenging aspects of the project was transporting the home to Washington, DC in September of 2011. The team used four large trucks and several trailers for the home, furnishings, and tools. Figure 2 shows one of section of the home after it was loaded onto a trailer and shrink wrapped. The pitched roof in the foreground is a roof section and the box at the rear of the trailer is a base unit with a floor and walls. Although the transportation and reassembly process was very labor intensive, the move to Washington, DC went surprisingly well. Figure 2. One part of the home shrink wrapped for transportation. Figure 3 is the home as it was displayed in Washington, D.C. The home had a practical, familiar, and comfortable look that was well received by the judges and more than 18,000 members of the general public who came in for a tour. The home also performed extremely well from a technical perspective, finishing near the top in every one of the five measured contests. The team was rewarded for their two years of hard work with a 2 nd place overall finish. Figure 3. The 2 nd place home on display at West Potomac Park. P ge 25335.4 Very few of the houses displayed in past Solar Decathlons have become full time residences. 4 In fact, of the 100 houses that have competed since 2002, only five are occupied on a daily basis. Of those that have become full time residences, only two have been placed in communities, while none have been placed into a typical residential neighborhood where the bulk of Americans live. Keeping true to its goal of being a "real home for a real family", our solar decathlon home has been placed in the Chatham Square, a community in Lafayette, IN that is part of a broader neighborhood revitalization effort. The home will be put on display through the summer of 2012 and then sold to a private resident, where it will be monitored long term to support ongoing research into the long term performance of cost effective homes that are supposed to be net zero in terms of their annual demand for electricity from the electric grid.