A team of faculty and students are working on the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Decathlon 2015 competition in California. Their project, Indigo Pine, focuses on maximizing efficiency and minimizing costs when it comes to building homes.
By Alexa Emerson, Class of 2017
A team of more than 100 Clemson students and faculty have been working toward this week, and many of them have traveled to California to compete in the Solar Decathlon. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, in partnership with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the competition challenges 20 colleges and universities across the United States to design, build and operate solar-powered houses that are cost-effective, energy-efficient and attractive.
Clemson’s project for the Solar Decathlon project, called Indigo Pine after two historically prominent South Carolina crops, brings together an active team of students and faculty from across the university to collaborate on the design, construction and promotion of a prototypical, three-bedroom, 1,000 square foot, low-environmental-impact, net-zero, solar house that is cost effective in today’s market and comfortable under South Carolina’s climate. Professor Kate Schwennsen is the director of the Clemson School of Architecture.
“The design and construction of a zero-energy home – especially a livable, affordable, accessible, customizable, market-rate, family home – has more potential than any other project imaginable to make a positive difference in the world and for South Carolina families,” Schwennsen said.
The Indigo Pine project uniquely brings together students and faculty from all five colleges, making it a great story of collaboration and teamwork. Schwennsen said the Clemson team developed an innovative simPLY structural system by combining an abundant sustainable age-old material – wood with 21st century technology. She says the construction is built to last and it, “changes the way we think about building a home.”
Innovation and collaboration are two of many distinguishing features of the “no nails construction” Indigo Pine project which students and faculty are confident paves the way safe, efficient homes families can build themselves.
The Indigo Pine team tirelessly worked on the project with a physical prototype located in the Botanical Gardens. The DOE Solar Decathlon 2015 competition in Irvine, CA is open to the public from Oct. 8 -18. The overall contest winner will be announced on Oct. 17.
