University of Florida builds solar home for global contest

University of Florida students have built an energy-generating house that will compete against 16 similar projects this month at the Solar Decathlon Europe in Madrid, Spain

The decathlon, based on biannual ones that the U.S. Department of Energy began hosting in the United States in 2002, is the first to be held in Europe. It challenges students worldwide to create homes that produce at least as much energy as they use via solar technology and sustainable design

University teams have 10 days, beginning Tuesday, to assemble their prefabricated homes onsite to showcase them during the June 18-27 expo. They hail from seven countries, including the United States, Spain, France, Germany, Finland, China and the United Kingdom

The University of Florida's RE:FOCUS project is one of two U.S.-based projects selected for the global competition and is "This Week's Green House." The other is Virginia Tech's LUMENHAUS, which also competed in DOE's 2009 decathlon in Washington in October

RE-FOCUS, a one-bedroom 800 square foot home is a modern version of the traditional Florida "cracker house," (shown at right) which features a well-covered porch for sun protection

"These were homes people lived in before air conditioning in Florida," says Laura Ettedgui, one of 125 students who worked on the project.


"Our primary concern is to cool the house" and thus reduce its demand for electricity, says Ettedgui, who was just graduated from the University of Florida with a double degree in architecture and civil engineering