By KATE WILLSON
Observer Staff
Oct. 18, 2007

Hardwood floors, stainless steel appliances, and bay windows graced the house that students, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Mass., built this week for the third biennial Solar Decathlon, held on the National Mall in Washington.

Photo slideshow by Ariel Olson-Surowidjojo

But the wood was sustainably-harvested, the appliances energy efficient, and the windows more weather-resistant than most walls.

The decathlon is an international collegiate competition in which 20 teams receive $100,000 over two years to support the Department of Energy’s research goal of reducing the cost of solar-powered homes and advancing solar technology. The event is open to the public through October 20.

“This is shaping the world,” said Michelle Stadelman, a post-graduate student at Boston Architecture College, which teamed up with MIT. “People are starting to appreciate that things need to change.”

The 800-square-foot, wood-sided house is the product of two years’ work. It uses 12 to 15 kilowatt-hours of electricity per day – less than half that of the average U.S. home.

Stadelman said green-building techniques such as passive solar and radiant floor heating have been incorporated into the curriculums of architecture schools, rather than taught only in special classes on environmental design, as when Stadelman was an undergraduate. Green building is the way of the future, she said, and any new structure should be required to follow strict energy and environmentally-friendly practices.

“We shouldn’t be building anything that’s not green,” she said. “The idea of building things that can’t be recycled is kind of disgusting.”

But the idea of sustainable building has not caught on with many Americans, said MIT student Sian Kleindienst.

“There’s this taboo that doing this is the fringe,” she said. “But a lot of people would do it if they just knew more about it.”

After years of organizing a solar car race for competing universities, Richard King, the director of EPA’s solar research department, decided to challenge students to transfer that idea to buildings, and launched the Solar Decathlon in 2002.

“I learned through solar car racing that if you challenge engineering students, it’s amazing what they’ll do for you – the innovation and creativity,” he said. “I translated that to the housing market and challenged any university to build a solar-powered house.”

King said many competitors have gone on to work in the green building field. A previous Cornell team now runs a green-building business. A New York University team now does green renovations on existing buildings. And a member of a past Colorado State University team works for his governor’s energy office.

The program may have started out focusing only on solar, but King said it has evolved to include all things “green.”

“I’m a solar guy, but it’s so much more than a solar competition,” he said.

Alumni from past competitions who returned this year in support of their school teams said the event has evolved from an energy contest into a techie science fiction-like green-building contest.

“I do love the technology,” said Chris Wright, team leader for the University of Missouri-Rolla. “The first two years we really tried to make it blend in. This is more modern.”

Wright, a senior in mechanical engineering, will not have much use for the tools he has learned from the competition, he said, “but it has crossed my mind to go to graduate school” so he can compete again in 2009.

Ryan Thornton was on the Missouri team in 2002. Since then, he graduated and moved to southern California. He recently bought an older home and said the greening he learned from the decathlon will serve him in his own renovations.

“We need to replace the windows,” he said. “And I want hard wood floors, but I can use bamboo or eucalyptus. Why use oak when it takes so long to grow?” Thornton said.

California offers incentives for families and businesses that want to become more energy-efficient. And high electricity costs make solar and wind power attractive.

Thornton’s team member from 2002, Carry Worthington, said that where she lives in Missouri, people are not receptive to sustainable development.

“Living in southwest Missouri, energy rates are still low, so there’s not that necessity,” she said. “So I don’t think people in the Midwest are willing to pay the extra cost.”

The Missouri students and alumni all said there should be some federal standard for building energy-efficient, with incentives for places like the Midwest. In fact, a visitor would be hard-pressed to find a dissenting vote on the National Mall this week.

“I can’t imagine going back to traditional design,” said Leah Wolkovich, a senior at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburg. “I would love to work for a sustainable design firm.”

As she talked, visitors streamed into the team’s metal and wood framed home. The siding is built of corrugated tin and wood panel, with south-facing bay windows to trap the sun’s heat. Rainwater and runoff from the roof is caught in a plastic barrel, and then drips through dozens of plants and flowers before seeping into the ground.

Wolkovich said the system would be especially beneficial in Pittsburgh, where runoff causes higher pollution levels in nearby waterways.

Teammate Brian Kish said “green” has reinvented building design and construction.

“There is growing interest in this field,” he said. “The urgency has started to become apparent.”