MTSU, Vanderbilt and Habitat for Humanity working together
NASHVILLE — Team
Music City, an interdisciplinary group from Vanderbilt University, Middle
Tennessee State University and Habitat for Humanity of Greater Nashville, has
been selected to compete in the Solar Decathlon 2015, a U.S. Department of
Energy event that challenges students to design and build a functioning,
energy-efficient, solar-powered house.
This is the first time a Vanderbilt-MTSU-Habitat-Nashville
team will compete in the Solar Decathlon. The team’s conceptual design —
Harmony House — forges a connection between Southern living and modern green
technologies.
Twenty teams from colleges and universities across the
country and around the world will now begin the nearly two-year process of
building their solar-powered houses. The venue for Solar Decathlon 2015 is the
Orange County Great Park, located between Los Angeles and San Diego.
Team Music City is composed of undergraduate and graduate
students and faculty in the School of Engineering at Vanderbilt, in the College
of Basic and Applied Sciences and the College of Behavioral and Health Sciences
at MTSU, and partners from Habitat-Nashville.
“The college is thrilled to be a partner in the building of
Harmony House,” said Bud Fischer, dean of the MTSU College of Basic and Applied
Sciences. “This opportunity allows students from two outstanding universities
the chance to get practical 'hands-on' experience in solving real world issues
while also allowing them the ability to participate in a project that can have
an impact on developing sustainable affordable housing in the future.”
Drawing from a variety of classes, students in construction
management, interior design, electrical, mechanical and civil engineering will
be involved in the planning, designing and building processes, which will lead
to constructing a home that is greater than 600 square feet but less than 1,000
square feet in size. The home will be built on the Vanderbilt campus.
“I congratulate the students who have worked so hard on
their submission. We are all so proud of them. This effort by Vanderbilt,
Middle Tennessee State, and Habitat-Nashville shines yet another national, and
even international, spotlight on Nashville, a community clearly on the move,”
said Philippe Fauchet, dean of the Vanderbilt School of Engineering.
Team Music City is led by faculty members Ralph Bruce,
professor of electrical engineering at Vanderbilt; Sanjiv Gokhale, professor of
civil engineering at Vanderbilt; Thomas Gormley, professor of engineering
technology at MTSU; and by Chip Wilson, construction director at
Habitat-Nashville.
Like the Olympic decathlon, the Solar Decathlon consists of
10 contests designed to gauge how well the houses perform and how livable and
affordable they are. For example, in the appliances contest, teams earn points
for refrigerating and freezing food, washing and drying laundry, and running
the dishwasher. Teams are scored on how well they balance production and energy
consumption.
The team hopes to complete the home early enough to conduct
practice runs of the 10 Solar Decathlon contests, but the team has a long way
to go. Construction details are preliminary, and the team will begin now to
seek sponsorships, contributions and donations to fund the project.
The partners bring expertise in energy and materials
research, construction and design. In its preliminary design, Harmony House
features exterior walls of lightweight concrete and a rooftop solar garden that
functions as a source of clean energy and as an additional living area.
“We’re very excited about the Harmony House project because
it’s a chance for us to explore solar energy as one more component to our
sustainable, affordable housing program,” said Wilson. “Lowering conventional
energy consumption and costs means Habitat partner families will have more
money for life's necessities.
“The ability to one day incorporate solar technology into
our affordable housing program also positively impacts the environment because
Habitat is the 18th largest residential builder in Middle Tennessee,"
Wilson said.
The winning team will be whoever best blends
cost-effectiveness, consumer appeal and design excellence with optimal energy
production and maximum efficiency.
“By building Harmony House, our students will become
prepared to tackle very important societal problems— one of which is how to
make better use of renewable energy,” Fauchet said.
Learn more about the Solar Decathlon at http://www.solardecathlon.gov/.
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