The Auburn University Solar Decathlon House

Abstract

The U.S. Department of Energy has sponsored the world's first student design contest to build houses powered only by the sun and that competed in ten contests. These houses were located on the National Mall in Washington, DC from September 19 through October 9, 2002. This paper describes the architectural and power system approach taken by Auburn University and the contest results. The roof size was limited to 800 ft/sup 2/, thus area for both thermal and electrical power was limited. Energy efficient appliances were used to minimize energy usage in the contest.