SolarWorld, the largest U.S. solar manufacturer for more than 35 years, will sponsor a joint team from Arizona State University and University of New Mexico as well as a team from West Virginia University in this year’s U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon solar-home-design competition. For the first time, the event from Oct. 3 through 14 is scheduled at a venue outside of Washington, D.C. This year’s contest will take place at Orange County Great Park, located in the same region where SolarWorld’s site in Camarillo, Calif., has served as a crucible for solar-industry innovation since the late 1970s.
In the event staged every other autumn, students typically studying engineering and architecture from 20 university teams compete to present a functioning home that showcases solar power, often in designs befitting the climate, lifestyles and traditions of their universities’ locales. They compete according to an array of dimensions, including cost affordability, design appeal and energy efficiency.
The ASU-UNM home design, SHADE (short for “solar homes adapting for desert equilibrium”), is intended for starter homes to infill vacant lots in desert cities such as the universities’ hometowns of Phoenix and Albuquerque. SHADE emphasizes interchangeability among indoor and outdoor spaces, modular additions to adjustability to evolving space needs, flexible uses of dominant living spaces, and structural maximization of shade and ventilation.
The team from West Virginia University, based in Morgantown, titled its project PEAK, short for “preserving energy with Appalachian knowledge.” The concept features “smart” digital technologies and passive and active energy elements, combined with architectural features reminiscent of log-cabin construction in Appalachia. “Through its rustic, wholesome design, the team hopes to inspire individuals to get back to the roots of American pioneers,” the team’s website says. For architectural expertise, the team has partnered with students at the University of Rome Tor Vergata.
SolarWorld has built a leading residential solar business for its panels, including a network of SolarWorld authorized installers. The company offers a Freedom Plan for financing residential systems in many states. Its black solar panels are favorites among residential customers, 36 of which the company will donate for the ASU-UNM home.
“As a company building on decades of solar innovation, SolarWorld fully grasps the power of new ideas,” said Kevin Kilkelly, president of SolarWorld Americas, the company’s commercial unit, based in Camarillo. “So we want to encourage innovation in this competitive showcase of residential solar concepts that comes just once every two years.”