UI solar-paneled house ready to win in Decathlon

Kyle Magnuson and Bruce Clark, 2nd year Architecture graduate students, inspect the Gable Home, a solar-powered home they constructed alongwith other architecture and engineering students for the 2009 Solar Decathalon, at 1200 S Goodwin in Urbana, Sept. 14, 2009. The south side of the roof is covered in solar panels. "The house is fully self reliant," explained Joe Simon (not pictured), a 3rd year graduate in Architecture and Business Administration, who also worked on the project. "it'll generate about two times as much energy as it needs over the course of the year... [The excess] will be sent back to the electric grid."
Ramzi Dreessen The Daily Illini

Electricity bills could be history soon, and some University students may be able to take the credit.

Students in architecture, computer science, industrial design and the Colleges Engineering, ACES and Business came together to build the Gable house­— a home that runs completely on solar power, said Joe Simon, graduate student and Gable house volunteer.

"I think everything came together very well," Simon said. "It was designed by a collaborative effort and we are very happy with how it turned out."

Simon gave tours of the building during an open house on Sept. 12 and 13 which showcased the house's design.

"We have had several hundred people turn out and they have been interested in everything," Simon said. "Not just the big concept, but all of the little, individual details."

Mark Adams, graduate student and volunteer, said it will take some time before the solar-powered home would become cost-effective.

"We use a lot of high-end equipment," Adams said. "It is (the hose) what could be done if (the) costs were not an issue."

Adams said that if the group reduced the quality of materials in the house then it would be possible to mass market similar homes.

"The house is producing three times more energy than it consumes," Adams said.

"We would need to make it have the capacity to take a third of the energy."

Simon said the extra energy the house produces is being used to power the greenhouses next door.

Kevin Zielnicki, graduate student, said he enjoys the idea of the solar-powered home.

"I like how they reused so many different things to build the house," Zielnicki said. "My brother works on the same thing over at Cornell."

Simon added that he sees Cornell as competition for the Gable house volunteers.

He said the group plans to enter the house in the Department of Energy Conservation Decathlon, a competition that judges the capabilities of student-built, solar-powered houses.

Adams said the competition will last for three weeks and is judged on 10 different categories.

"It (the competition) will be simulated-living in the house for a week," Adams said.

"We will be scored based on how well our house performs basic tasks, such as running warm water."

He added that the team began deconstruction of the house last weekend and will move the home to Washington D.C. for the competition Wednesday. The house will be on display for competition from Oct. 1 until Oct. 23.