Oct 17 2007
Engineering and Architecture students from Kansas State University and University of Kansas are hoping that thousands of people from across the country will visit the Kansas Project Solar House at the National Mall in Washington D.C. this week to become more familiar with the concept of a net zero-energy home (a home which produces as much energy as it consumes over the course of a year).
To help the Kansas Project Team attain its energy-efficiency goals for the entry, Siemens Building Technologies, Inc. contributed sophisticated building automation technology as well as volunteers who provided the engineering support necessary to help students connect and control the solar power, heating, ventilation, lighting and other systems into a cohesive integrated system. The Siemens APOGEE (R) Building Automation System provides students the ability to monitor and control Kansas Project Solar House systems via the web anywhere there is an internet connection.
Twenty university-led teams come from across the U.S., Spain, Germany, and Canada to design, build and operate the most efficient and attractive solar- powered homes. Teams have worked for more than two years designing, building and testing their homes - this competition is the culmination of that work. According to Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman, "The Solar Decathlon highlights ingenuity and entrepreneurial environmentalism as future engineers and architects produce homes that generate all the energy they need without sacrificing style and comfort." For more information on DOE's Solar Decathlon, visit http://www.solardecathlon.org.
The Kansas team's mission statement exhorts people to "redirect expectations" and the home demonstrates that philosophy in many ways-from pools of water that reflect light into interior spaces to sensors that gauge ambient light and turn off light fixtures automatically when they are not needed. Kansas' entry also incorporated recycled and reclaimed building materials-including wood from a barn they tore down themselves. For more information on Kansas Project Solar House, visit http://solarhouse.capd.ksu.edu.