Del.icio.us
Email13th Overall
October 26, 2007
MIT has a long history of building solar houses, but this was its debut in the Solar Decathlon. The school has built six houses previously, with the most recent one in the '80s.
A 9 kW-rated array by SunPower sat atop its house. These panels are the most efficient by area and seem to "perform unusually well in cloudy [conditions]," said Randall Pope, an architecture student.
A unique feature of the MIT house was the south-facing Trombe wall. This wall was made of plastic blocks layered with aerogel (an insulation technology developed by NASA) and sandwiching water. The water within the blocks absorbs heat and radiates it into the house when it is cold outside. The system also keeps heat inside the home. Disadvantageously, these blocks will make the inside of the house extremely hot during high-sun summer months. A shade blocks sun from warming the blocks. These blocks are produced by Hunter Douglas and not yet commercially available. Pope maintained that the blocks had an R-value of 8.
Unlike many of the houses, MIT used two sets of solar-thermal collectors made by Apricus. Despite having extra collectors, the team only took eighth place in the hot-water contest.
It used a plywood and foam SIP to create the walls of the house. These SIPs provide all the insulation the house will need without the use of traditional and unsustainable materials such as fiberglass.
MIT also received 100 points for having a zero-energy balance at the end of the week. It also scored sixth in the Getting Around contest, meaning the team was able to produce enough excess power to charge its car and drive it around Washington, D.C.