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    Solar Decathlon: Affordability

    By Donal on Wed, 09/28/2011 - 4:11pm | Technology



    An unexpected deadline foiled my plans to attend the Solar Decathlon last weekend, and I'm not sure I'm going to make it back. But DOE has posted a photo gallery of interior shots for each entry, which are certainly better than any picture I could have snapped among a crowd of observers. To the left is Team Canada's master bedroom.


     

     

     

     

     

     


     

    Purdue Solarmakers just beat the $250,000 budget.

    Parsons and Stevens were Empowered with the lowest price.

    In the Affordability category, two teams, Parsons/Stevens ($229,890.26) and Purdue ($249,595.58) each scored 100 points for being appraised below the $250,000 target budget. Purdue leads overall, but the competition is far from over. The key to their affordability may be use of common materials - neither house would look out of place on a suburban streetscape. The highest price was for Tennessee's Living Light - their dark wood panel-clad, double-glazed, open plan house, was appraised at $470,574.58.


    Appalachian State was appraised at $335,338.69, and leads the public choice awards. Anyone can vote online at solardecathlon.gov.
     

    Topics: 
    Technology

    Comments

     

    Thanks for keeping up on this Donal . . .

     

    Our son lives out in Tucson and we visited this eco-community in the South East corner of Arizona a few years back.

    These are homes that are completely off-the-grid.

     

    The Scent of Cedar

    Todd Bogatay – Bisbee, AZ

    Born out of 1970s hippie culture and a yen to save the world, Todd Bogotay’s off-the-grid house has since blossomed into a 16-home eco community – fittingly called the Ecommunity – with more homes slated to be built in the future. The forward-thinking architect created his masterpiece 29 years ago, back when most would consider solar and wind power prohibitively expensive, but his long career and expertise as a sustainable home builder have since made him indispensable as the green movement became an industry unto itself in the 21st century. With the recent dramatic drop in the price of alternative energy technology and the corresponding hike of fossil fuel prices, Bogatay’s Ecommunity is now going strong.

    The house that Bogatay built in 1982 uses solar panels and wind power as well as collected rain water to make life off-the-grid comfortable. He has had to make a few sacrifices – for instance he uses a small, energy-efficient refrigerator – but by and large his house is one like any other, with satellite TV and high-speed Internet. Situated on a sunny Arizona hillside, Bogatay’s home is not only totally energy independent, it also enjoys some striking views of the valley.

    Here's Todd's site: toddbogatay.com/

     

    ~OGD~


    by oldenGoldenDecoy on Wed, 09/28/2011 - 7:59pm

    I love this type of contest, I love to see what tech is out there, I love to see simplicity in so much of the tech...

    We have over 310 million folks in this country and a million or even ten million have ideas that should be published...somehow.

    To see some of the ideas materialize into money is wonderful!


    by Richard Day on Wed, 09/28/2011 - 10:10pm

    Ditto for me. I don't say it often enough (if at all), but thanks for providing these links and stories Donal (and OGD).


    by Verified Atheist on Thu, 09/29/2011 - 7:02am