Park Project Highlight
2007 Solar Decathlon Competition
Rachelle Galant, Daniel Zook
Issue date: 4/8/06 Section: Features
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What to get for the person that has everything? Or for someone who believes deeply in sustainability and using our natural resources around us? Then stop by the agriculture quad to visit the prize-winning solar house that the 2005 Cornell team built and entered in the Solar Decathlon International competition. The house will be auctioned off at noon on April 7th at the quad and there will be a reception afterwards to meet the 2007 Cornell University Solar Decathlon (CUSD) team. The team will be talking about plans for the next solar house, a follow-up to the team of 2005's second place win, out of eighteen different teams from across the country. The inaugural Solar Decathlon competition was in 2002 and 2005 was Cornell's first year in the competition.
Daniel Zook (MBA 2007) has joined to 2007 CUSD and is working on the fundraising aspect for the team. Fundraising is no small feat for the 2007 Solar house, the total value of labor and materials invested in the house will be approximately $500,000. The CUSD team is composed of over 80 undergraduate and graduate members, touching 6 of 7 schools here at Cornell. The competition will be held in Washington DC in the Fall of 2007. "This project is a great event, and it's an example of one of the many awesome opportunities at Cornell that Johnson students can get involved in". There are 20 teams entered in the competition that Cornell will be competing against, a sampling of schools include: University of Colorado, MIT, Cal Poly, Georgia Tech, Kansas State, NY Institute of Technology, University of Montreal, Texas A&M, Penn State, University of Puerto Rico, University of Madrid, UT Austin, University of Missouri, and University of Maryland.
While the team is still in the planning phase for the 2007 solar house, the house will showcase the University's leading edge research in "sustainability" across all academic disciplines. The house will be constructed in Ithaca and transported by truck to Washington DC in Fall of 2007 where it will be placed on the National Mall with other entrants to form a solar village. In 2005, over 100,000 visitors toured through the houses in a single week. Visitors were particularly interested in what components went into the design of each house. The size of the solar house will be approximately 800 square feet.
While winning the Solar Decathlon competition is high on the team's list, another goal for the 2007 team is to shape the way the public views solar energy and demonstrate that it is a viable technology for houses today. The team is involved in numerous outreach and publicity activities to inform the public.
For more information, please visit the Cornell website for the Decathlon, www.cusd.cornell.edu, or the National Site, www.eere.energy.gov/solar_decathlon/
Daniel Zook (MBA 2007) has joined to 2007 CUSD and is working on the fundraising aspect for the team. Fundraising is no small feat for the 2007 Solar house, the total value of labor and materials invested in the house will be approximately $500,000. The CUSD team is composed of over 80 undergraduate and graduate members, touching 6 of 7 schools here at Cornell. The competition will be held in Washington DC in the Fall of 2007. "This project is a great event, and it's an example of one of the many awesome opportunities at Cornell that Johnson students can get involved in". There are 20 teams entered in the competition that Cornell will be competing against, a sampling of schools include: University of Colorado, MIT, Cal Poly, Georgia Tech, Kansas State, NY Institute of Technology, University of Montreal, Texas A&M, Penn State, University of Puerto Rico, University of Madrid, UT Austin, University of Missouri, and University of Maryland.
While the team is still in the planning phase for the 2007 solar house, the house will showcase the University's leading edge research in "sustainability" across all academic disciplines. The house will be constructed in Ithaca and transported by truck to Washington DC in Fall of 2007 where it will be placed on the National Mall with other entrants to form a solar village. In 2005, over 100,000 visitors toured through the houses in a single week. Visitors were particularly interested in what components went into the design of each house. The size of the solar house will be approximately 800 square feet.
While winning the Solar Decathlon competition is high on the team's list, another goal for the 2007 team is to shape the way the public views solar energy and demonstrate that it is a viable technology for houses today. The team is involved in numerous outreach and publicity activities to inform the public.
For more information, please visit the Cornell website for the Decathlon, www.cusd.cornell.edu, or the National Site, www.eere.energy.gov/solar_decathlon/
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