Stanford's Solar Home Opens on Earth Day

A house that sustains itself. Now what's more appropriate for Earth Day than that?

On Monday, April 22, Stanford University's entry in the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon Start.Home will host the first public viewing of the zero-emission house at 10 a.m. The 1000 sq. ft. two-bedroom, one-bath house—which is only 50 percent completed—aims to marry design with architecture to construct a solar home for the future. 

Unique to Start.Home is what could be considered its central nervous system or motherboard—the Start.Core, a 12-by-15-by-10-foot box in the middle of the home. This is a compact module that contains the home's primary mechanical, electrical, networking and plumbing systems.

Another important feature is that the home could be replicated easily and shipped anywhere around the country of the world, according to Emma Sagan, the team's business director and a student in the sustainable manufacturing, engineering and design program. Students also had the challenge of maintaining their total costs of materials and expenses under $250,000.

The Start.Home construction site is located on the corner of Lomita Mall and Panama Mall, on campus.

The 2013 competition will feature custom solar homes from 20 collegiate teams representing four countries. It will be held October 3-13 at Orange County Great Park in Irvine, Calif.

Curious about the progress on the Start.Home, the students kept track on their YouTube channel.

 

Stanford News Service contributed reporting to this article.

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