It’s show time for the UB GRoW Home

For the more than 200 UB students and faculty who have spent the past two years designing and building the GRoW Home, the moment has finally arrived. The Solar Decathlon is underway in Irvine, California. The U.S. Department of Energy-sponsored collegiate contest began last Thursday with opening remarks by U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and runs through Oct. 18.

UB is one of 14 teams competing in this year’s Solar Decathlon, a biennial event that challenges participants to design, build and operate energy-efficient, solar-powered homes. Each home is judged in 10 categories. The category winners will be announced Oct. 15 and 16, with the overall winner crowned Oct. 17.

The GRoW Home team spent the week of Sept. 21 readying the house and its contents for truck transport from Buffalo to Irvine. The team’s construction crew began assembling the home in Irvine on Sept. 28. UB was one of only a handful of teams that was able to get its house up and running by the Oct. 6 deadline. In fact, a few GRoW Home members helped another team’s construction crew finish its house.

“We haven’t been sleeping much, but we are flying high and really excited,” sophomore Stephanie Acquario, the GRoW Home team’s communications manager, said Thursday from Irvine. “The assembly team did a great job. We had a few construction issues, but they were very minor.”

The assembly period was critical, not just because the home had to be put back together — furnishings and all — but also because each entry must pass a series of inspections, including building, electrical, plumbing and mechanical, to ensure it is in compliance with the event’s building code. Teams could begin earning points Thursday morning with those inspections.

Getting off to a strong start is key, according to Solar Decathlon Director Richard King. “They can’t begin the competition or host public visitors until their assembly is completed and inspections are signed off,” he says. “Teams that start racking up points from the very beginning are more likely to win.” Visit the Solar Decathlon's current standings page to see who's in the lead.

About 1,000 people came through the GRoW Home on Thursday during the first day of public tours. (The 2013 Solar Decathlon drew 64,000 visitors.) “The reaction has been 100 percent positive. Everybody loves it,” Acquario said.

As part of the contest, the team also hosted a dinner party for eight on Thursday night, which counted toward its point total. The team had to prep, cook and serve the entire meal within the home to test its functionality and energy consumption. Team members served jerked pork with mango salsa and a variety of salads.

Students will give tours of the GRoW Home over eight days of the competition, with the exception of Oct. 12-14, when each home in the Solar Decathlon village is closed to the public so that the juried contests can take place. Winners of the Affordability and Market Appeal category contests will be announced on Oct. 15. The Architecture and Communications category winners will be unveiled on Oct. 16. The final awards ceremony will be held on Oct. 17.