Solar Housing competition Washington

[dieseltaylor]

http://www.solardecathlon.org/

Loads of really interesting ideas, some very low tech and some high tech but all very much better for the planet. The news on carbon levels and sea levels is fairly worry ing so the more we do, and the sooner the better.

In contrast to some of the more traditional looking designs on display, Cornell University’s “Silo House” stands out with a trio of interconnected rust-colored cylinders positioned under floating solar panels. The cylinders house three interconnecting cylindrical rooms, which sit around a square courtyard shaded by the photovoltaic (PV) panels above. Each silo is 16 ft (4.9 m) in diameter, with about 130 ft2 (12.1 m2) of floor space and serves a different function – kitchen, bedroom and living room. The modules are joined on the southern side, but the northern side is left open. The exterior is covered with Cor-Ten, a corrugated, steel cladding whose outer layer oxidizes to a weather-proof rusty coating that gives the Silo House its distinctive coloring. Solar heat absorbed by the Cor-Ten steel siding on the southwest side of the house is transferred to fluid running through copper pipes hidden underneath the corrugated steel skin. This preheats water entering the domestic hot water tank before the primary heating is done by an Apricus evacuated tube solar thermal system.

Acting together, these systems allow 15 gallons of hot water to be supplied to the showers in ten minutes with the 120-gallon tank able to store heat for days without sun. If the heating mechanism doesn’t provide enough hot water, a backup electric resistance heater in the how water tank can finish the job.

Thats the way to do it!

[__Yossarian0815[jby]]

Looks good, though I hope they also provide round bookcases