A solar home designed and built by a group of Washington State University students gets a new home this week at Shoreline Community College, where it will serve as a demonstration project on zero-energy building.
Washington state representative Maralyn Chase will speak at a dedication ceremony of the Solar Decathlon home, set for Thursday, May 17, at 2 p.m.
The event will be held near the Campus Theater on the west side of the Shoreline Community College campus, 16101 Greenwood Avenue North, in Seattle.
A group of WSU students enrolled in architecture, construction management, interior design and engineering programs, designed and built the home over a period of more than two years as part of the 2005 U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon competition.
The competition required the students to plan and build a 500-800 square-foot home that received all its energy needs from the sun.
The students disassembled and then transported the home to the National Mall in Washington, D.C. for the two-week competition. WSU was the only team from the Northwest to participate.
The highly-efficient home has all the modern conveniences powered by solar energy, including heating and air conditioning, refrigeration, hot water, lighting, appliances and communications.
“It’s nice to see that the hard work our students did to build a truly zero-energy home continues to be recognized,’’ said Matthew Taylor, assistant professor in the School of Architecture and Construction Management, who served as advisor for the Solar Decathlon project. “This work continues to have great importance because it shows us the way in starting to create a sustainable energy future.’’
At Shoreline Community College, the home will continue to be used as a demonstration facility for educational purposes and for solar testing through the Northwest Solar Center.
