Student solar-powered houses light path to the future

An African country won a place for the first time in a global university competition to build the best solar-powered house. The American University in Cairo was selected along with 18 other universities to compete for the top Solar Decathlon prize.

The prize is so-called because it involves 10 separate objective and subjective tests including architecture, marketability, innovation and sustainability. The event took place in Madrid from 14-30 September 2012.

Due to reasons beyond the Egyptian team’s control, they were unable to complete their house on site, though just making it to Madrid made them winners.

“All teams have issues but we had more than we imagined”, explained Amyaa El Gabry, an associate professor of mechanical engineering and advisor to the American University in Cairo.

“During the 18 months of preparation it was difficult to keep the students' minds on the design, for example, when sometimes they had just come from a fight in the street involving teargas. The elections, the strikes and the financial crisis in Egypt also caused delays.

“Multinational companies that offered us full sponsorship were unable to fulfil their commitments. Then we had to ship containers here and red tape held up the materials at customs in Valencia.”

Nonetheless, the 30-strong Egyptian team still believed ‘they had more to give’ and so began to work through the night to construct the house. But then a transport strike in Spain and escalating costs forced them to withdraw.

“We gave it our best, learned a lot and hope to compete at the next event,” said El Gabry.

Chiba University in Japan also competed for the first time, and produced a unique ‘100% self-sustainable house’. “We have solar energy production, water recycling, a recyclable structure and a ‘plant factory’ developed by our university that allows us to accelerate plant growth up to fivefold,” said Angel Mora (30), a PhD student in architecture and urban development.

“The building was already earthquake resistant but when the disaster occurred we decided to add the plant production system so that the building could be used in polluted areas like Fukushima. It is planned to become a symbol of re-urbanisation in the destroyed areas.”

Many universities involved dozens in their projects, but more than 200 students and lecturers were involved in the construction of Brazil’s solar-powered house. As Brazil is a developing country with unique features such as large environmentally sensitive areas, the team had to be particularly innovative.

“We designed the house with little or no environmental impact so that it could be placed in protected areas,” said Fernanda Antonio (27), who is studying for a masters in architecture at the University of São Paolo. “Tourists will now be able to visit these places and produce prosperity without harming nature.”

In all, 19 teams from 13 countries – Brazil, China, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Norway, Portugal, Romania and Spain – met the targets and deadlines imposed by the competition.

They were each given €50,000 and then raised the remainder (construction costs varied between €90,000 and €700,000) from their own governments, companies and individual donors.

Around 200,000 people are estimated to have visited the site in Madrid to see the houses and talk to the 500 students and professors involved in their design and construction.

The aim of the competition, which began in 2002 in Washington, DC, is to raise awareness among citizens about the ecological and economic value of conserving energy, and to stimulate incorporation of these designs and technologies into new buildings and everyday life.

This year saw a significant increase in pre-planned visits from schools, universities and professional institutions.

Another new development was the use of a ‘smart grid’ that monitored energy production and consumption in each house. Together the houses produced three times the energy they consumed (in running airconditioning systems, washing machines and even the electric cars used on site), and the excess even contributed to the Madrid grid.

The eventual winner, announced on 29 September, was the Rhône Alpes team – École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Grenoble in France. However, all the universities that made it to Madrid had already successfully met the demanding targets set by the organisers.

“I’m so inspired by the students every time I come to a new Solar Decathlon, because each time they manage to produce better ideas and more beautiful buildings than before,” concluded Richard King, director of the programme at the US Department of Energy.