Sneak Peek of Team Santa Clara's 2013 Solar Decathlon House Available at Earth Day Event
Jay Dubashi
SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 20, 2012—What does it take to power a 1,000-square-foot home using only solar energy? What sustainable materials can you use to build the home? How affordable is it?
These are some of the questions students at Santa Clara University will be answering at an Earth Day event on Saturday, April 21 from 5 to 8 p.m. at the school’s Buck Shaw Stadium. It’s also the first time the public will be able to see a model and the plans for Team Santa Clara’s 2013 Solar Decathlon house called Rhythm.
The students were chosen earlier this year to compete in the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2013 Solar Decathlon. They submitted their first official set of designs and floor plans for their solar-powered home this week to the DOE.
“This house is a nice balance between modern amenities and comfortable living,” says Jake Gallau, student project manager for Team Santa Clara. “We’ve named the house Rhythm as it follows the natural rhythm of the sun and because it balances the three E’s: efficiency, elegance, and economics.”
Members of the team say they will knock out the competition, which include Stanford University, University of Southern California, and California Institute of Technology. Unlike the other schools, Team Santa Clara consists of all undergraduate students aged 19 to 23 years old.
A total of 20 college and university teams from around the world are competing to be the best one that can build a real, livable, operable house that is 100 percent powered by solar energy. The competition takes places Oct. 3-13, 2013 at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, Calif. However, all students must build their homes on their own campuses, dismantle it, ship it to the competition site, rebuild it, and then operate it for the judges and the public.
Saturday’s event is co-hosted by the San Jose Earthquakes, and MLS W.O.R.K.S., the charitable arm of Major League Soccer. Fans will receive an eco-tip guide, flower seed packets, a book featuring discount offers at local, sustainable and healthy businesses, and much more. A full list of all the giveaways can be found online.
About Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located 40 miles south of San Francisco in California’s Silicon Valley, offers its more than 8,800 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, theology, and engineering, plus master’s and law degrees and engineering Ph.D.s. Distinguished nationally by one of the highest graduation rates among all U.S. master’s universities, California’s oldest operating higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. For more information, see www.scu.edu.
Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located 40 miles south of San Francisco in California’s Silicon Valley, offers its more than 8,800 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, theology, and engineering, plus master’s and law degrees and engineering Ph.D.s. Distinguished nationally by one of the highest graduation rates among all U.S. master’s universities, California’s oldest operating higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. For more information, see www.scu.edu.
Media Contact
Jay Dubashi | Assistant Project Manger | jaydubashi[at]gmail.com | 650-906-4728
Apr 20, 2012