October 5, 2009

Solar home ready to power up

Matt Beck is the project manager of SolAbode.

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Team Alberta struggled over the weekend to align one of the home’s four modules with the other three, and scrambled to throw a large tarp over the top of the building when rain showers swept through the city.

By today, however, all of the SolAbode’s four modules were firmly locked together and most of the solar electrical panels were in place on the roof. Team Alberta is now poised to test its solar energy system, in preparation for tying the system into an electrical grid set up specifically for the 20 homes in the solar village that has sprung up on the mall.

Being able to tie the solar home into this temporary power grid is a crucial part of this year’s U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon. Teams that haven’t managed to do so by Wednesday morning at the latest face losing significant advantage in the competition.

“We passed all our electrical rough-in inspections, so we’re ready for grid tie. We also passed our inspection for rough plumbing, which is necessary for our solar thermal (hot water heating) system,” says project manager Matt Beck, a University of Calgary environmental design graduate student.

The SolAbode features rooftop parapets and a central core clad with black Rundle stone quarried from the Rockies, along with reclaimed barn board siding from a southern Alberta farm and rust-finished metal panels that glint orange in the Washington sun. The striking design makes Team Alberta’s home distinctive compared with several other teams’ more box-like houses. “Despite the fact that we’ve been constructing it longer than anyone else here, our home is unique and beautiful,” says David Silburn, Team Alberta’s design team leader from SAIT Polytechnic. “People are already commenting about the stone, the wood and the siding. I think we’re going to blow them away!”

More than 800 students from the United States, Canada, Spain and Germany will compete in the 2009 Solar Decathlon. Team Alberta includes students from the University of Calgary, SAIT Polytechnic, Mount Royal University and the Alberta College of Art + Design. It is the first all-western Canadian entry in the prestigious competition which takes place Oct. 8-18.