Cheap Solar House Fighting to Win Contest
A solar house built by a group of students from Rice University out of Houston, TX strives to be a low cost option for houses to reduce their carbon emissions while still reducing monthly energy bills. The Zerow House as it’s called is going to be part of the Solar Decathlon contest hosted by the Department of Energy.
The major accomplishment the students are trying to achieve is to build an affordable house that a normal family can afford, yet still reduce their carbon footprint. Other entrants in the contest took quite a different approach in that they built expensive homes with fancy features. Roque Sanchez, one of the students involved in the project had this to say about the Zerow House:
We’re taking a house that any family could live in and any family could afford and adding solar to it.
It’s great to see that these students took a different approach to this house than the other entrants. I hate it when winning products of contests like this are so expensive that the normal person could never afford. Being priced at just $100,000, this house could be an excellent way many Americans could build solar enabled, yet inexpensive and practical homes. After the competition is over, Rice University also plans on donating the home to a low-income family.
I wish the best of luck to this group. Lets hope this home can make a huge impact on how homes are built throughout our country regardless of whether they win the Solar Decathlon.
Comments
I will definitely choose the cheap house that can help us reduce energy bills monthly over those expensive house with cool features.
In today’s situation, we should be practical in spending our money.
If they manage to do it for $100k it will be a massive success. Often taking the energy efficient route ends up costing a lot more which is why only those who are really fighting for the clean green cause so often choose to build like this. This would be a massive breakthrough and prove accessible for everyone if they can actually do it. Please let us know if you hear the results of the project!
I like that they took this approach to the contest. I agree that if they are going to take the time to make this technology, why not make it for everyone. It seems like a waste to only make it for rich to afford. Too bad they could not quickly adapt these technologies to all housing. The world would be a much greener place if we relied on energy like solar power more.