GRoW Home moves into second at Solar Decathlon

IRVINE, CALIFORNIA — With only two days left before the overall winner is unveiled, the Solar Decathlon is really heating up — and the UB GRoW Home is in the thick of the action.

As of Thursday afternoon, UB was in second place in the 14-team competition, just behind Stevens Institute of Technology, which is competing in its third Solar Decathlon. UB, competing in the contest for the first time, held the top spot for a time on Wednesday before dropping back down to second.

“It’s kind of good that we’re in this position of chasing right now. It’s helping the team keep its edge,” says GRoW Home faculty adviser Martha Bohm.

The U.S. Department of Energy-sponsored collegiate competition, taking place at Orange County Great Park in Irvine, California, runs through this weekend. The overall winner will be announced Saturday morning.

The GRoW Home team rebounded nicely from a water pump issue earlier in the week, for which they lost 3.125 points. “Beyond that, they’ve been very disciplined and organized,” says Bohm, assistant professor of architecture in the School of Architecture and Planning. “The students have really taken another leap forward just in the time that they’ve been here. They understand that sometimes things go wrong and you have to think on your feet and respond.”

UB’s entry has particularly excelled in the Comfort Zone contest category, which requires each home to maintain a steady temperature between 71 and 76 degrees, and relative humidity of less than 60 percent, in order to obtain the most points.

Each home in the Solar Decathlon village was closed Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week for the juried contests. The Market Appeal and Affordability contest winners were announced Thursday. On Friday, the winners of the Architecture and Communication contests will be announced.

Public tours of each home in the Solar Decathlon village resumed Thursday and will continue through Sunday. President Satish K. Tripathi toured the GRoW Home on Wednesday and will do so again Friday with Robert Shibley, dean of the School of Architecture and Planning.

The public’s reaction to the GRoW Home has been fantastic, Bohm says. “They really love the house and we keep hearing that our tour is the best tour.”

The GRoW Home is currently in fourth place in the fan favorite contest happening as part of the Solar Decathlon. Fans can cast their vote by visiting the Department of Energy's website. Voting ends at 5 p.m. EST Sunday; the winner will be announced Tuesday.

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