Students start construction on solar house

Imagine a house that's a power plant and vegetable farm, all rolled into one self-sustaining structure.

UB students and faculty are making this dream a reality as they start construction on the GRoW Home, a 1,108-square-foot, solar-powered house that produces twice the energy it consumes. GRoW stands for “Garden, Relax or Work,” and the residence will include a sizable greenhouse capable of operating all year long.

The GRoW Home is being assembled at the Riverview Solar Technology Park in Tonawanda, where Montante Solar has donated warehouse space for building.

Construction began Feb. 16 and will continue for several months, culminating in a finished structure that will be shipped to Irvine, California, in October to compete in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon, a biennial competition promoting sustainability and energy-saving residential designs.

UB was one of only 20 intercollegiate teams from around the world chosen to participate.

“Buildings consume nearly 50 percent of our energy in the United States,” says Martha Bohm, the GroW Home project’s faculty adviser and assistant professor in the Department of Architecture. “We think most energy goes into our cars and factories, but it’s really our homes, schools and offices that use half of the energy in the country.

“This project is not just about solving the big problems; it’s about doing it in a way that’s compelling. By being both problem solvers and creative designers, we can create a new kind of building.”

Led by the School of Architecture and Planning, the GRoW Home team also includes the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; School of Management; College of Arts and Sciences; and the Department of Landscape Architecture at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

Since UB began pursuing the competition in 2012, the highly collaborative effort has involved 13 departments, nearly 100 students and dozens of faculty members across UB. Students also are working closely with several local businesses in the design, building and solar energy fields.

The project gives students the chance to complete a real-world project while learning how to work with peers from different backgrounds who think differently, a skill pertinent to the workplace.

“The competition is a great opportunity for this project to break new ground in energy-conscious design, educate our students on design and construction, and in so doing create a new opportunity to further educate the public on sustainable living practices,” says Robert Shibley, dean of the School of Architecture and Planning.

In addition to preparing for construction, the team recently launched a public crowdfunding campaign to raise funds to send students to California for the contest.

The design: A solar home for urban gardeners

GRoW Home will embrace the urban farming culture of Buffalo, as well as its seasonal weather.

The house will be divided into three spaces:

• GRoWlarium: a 338-square-foot glass greenhouse.
• Relax Module: the bedroom and central living space.
• Work Module: a spacious kitchen for cleaning produce, cooking, eating and storing necessities, also with an adjoining bathroom.  

The home facilitates on-site farming, providing the urban gardener with the space needed for production, processing and storage of food.

The GRoWlarium is designed to allow food growth in all seasons. Even in bitter winter months, the room can maintain a moderate temperature — ideal for cold-weather crops and growing seedlings — due to glass that traps heat inside.

It will be heated and cooled entirely by the sun and wind, and will have the ability to be connected to or sealed off from the rest of the home, depending on the weather.

Primarily powered through solar panels, the entire house will conserve energy through techniques that include a ground-source heat pump and ENERGY STAR-approved appliances. A steel canopy covered with solar panels will provide shading and collect rainwater. The wet and dry modules will have heat and air conditioning.

For entertainment, the students will install a pull-down, cloth movie screen that residents can enjoy outside under the canopy.

An opportunity for Buffalo

Once the home is completed, students will have to disassemble it and load it onto four semi-trucks to ship it to California for the competition. The team will have 10 days to reassemble the house.

During the festival-style event, house entries will be on view and judged in 10 categories: architecture, engineering, energy balance, comfort zone, affordability, market appeal, appliances, home life, commuting and communications. The winning team receives a trophy and bragging rights.

After the competition, GRoW Home will return to Buffalo and become an energy education center for the community. Its permanent location has yet to be decided.

“GRoW is an opportunity to put Buffalo on the map,” says Ryan Dussalt, a graduate student team member studying architecture. “Not only as a city invested in sustainable building practices, but also in healthy and accessible food systems.”

Materials were donated from corporate partners; the U.S. Department of Energy supplied seed funding. Project sponsors include LP Ciminelli, NYSERDA, Montante Solar, Watts Architecture and Engineering, ThermalFoams, CannonDesign and LaBella Associates.