Greentech Media

While the house was named "OPEN House," one might have found it hard to enter if no one was around because of the keyless fingerprint-ID system the New York Institute of Technology installed. But that was not a problem this week as the house was open for visitors to the Solar Decathlon.

The fingerprint identification was tied into the home's building-management -- or "smart house" -- system. When a user enters the house using their fingerprint, all their customized settings are turned on. These can be anything from temperature to lighting conditions. The "control system not only lies in the ability to operate and monitor the home but in the addition of a platform that can be used to educate those not immediately comfortable with becoming independent power producers," according to the NYIT Solar Decathlon Web site.

Employing a 7.5 kW SunPower array, the team seemed happy with its performance. The panels were able to get about 6 kW on a sunny day.

Some unusual features atop NYIT's roof were the pond and waterfall. The pond served as a thermal reservoir and was tied to a geothermal heat pump within the house. NYIT added the pond as a simulation of the use of geothermal energy. Obviously, the team couldn't just drill into the Mall, but still wanted to show that geothermal was a very viable option for sustainable living. The waterfall dissipated any excess heat through evaporation -- as was necessary during the unseasonably warm week of the competition.

Matt Vecchione, student project manager, explained that a shading device or overhang was added to control the amount of heat from the summer sun that was entering into the house. According to simulations and testing, the annual cooling load was reduced 11 percent by this overhang. In addition to reducing the cooling load, the overhang was equipped with building-integrated photovoltaic panels (BIPVs), by EPV, that were able to produce 400 W of additional energy.

Coupled with the BIPV overhang was a NanaWall system. NanaWall manufactures Energy Star-rated folding glass-door systems. These systems allow for natural ventilation when opened, but also serve as aesthetically pleasing insulation.

Jason Selss, the media manager for the team, said, "We see this [commercially] as a beach house. It would work well in Old Westbury [Long Island, NY]."

Long Island Power Authority is a top-tier sponsor and has been very enthusiastic about the whole project. "The students on NYIT's 2007 Solar Decathlon team are happy to see OPEN House return to the college's Old Westbury, N.Y., campus," Vecchione said, "and hope to see it one day become a solar-research center within the Center for Metropolitan Sustainability, NYIT's new interdisciplinary graduate center."