ULL in competition to build greenest house

Posted July 3rd, 2009
Architecture Professor Geoff Gjertson and graduate student Catherine Guidry spoke to the Eunice Rotary Club about BeauSoleil, the University of Louisiana-Lafayette’s solar-powered, energy self-sufficient entry into the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathalon 2009.
Jamie Anfenson-Comeau

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By J. Anfenson-Comeau
jamieenews@bellsouth.net

The race to build a solar energy self-sufficient house is on, and the University of Louisiana-Lafayette will be one of only 20 schools across North America and Europe selected to compete in the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2009 Solar Decathlon, Associate Professor of Architecture Geoff Gjertson told Eunice Rotarians Wednesday.
ULL’s School of Architecture and Design’s entry, BeauSoleil, was designed by graduate students in the program to produce more energy than it uses.
The house was designed to reflect its native environment and be capable of withstanding hurricane winds of up to 140 miles per hour.
It also incorporates aspects of traditional Cajun and Creole design, including being elevated, having a north-south orientation, covered breezeway between the kitchen and the rest of the house and windows that open to catch the breeze.
“When we started out, we wanted first and foremost to design a house appropriate to our culture and our climate,” Gjertson said.
The approximately 800 square-foot house is approximately 50 percent complete, Gjertson said, with an expected completion date of late August.
Once complete, the house will be partially disassembled and transported to Washington, D.C. in mid September, where its team will have seven days to reassemble it on the Washington Mall.
Other schools competing include Cornell University, Penn State, Virginia Tech, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and the Technische Universitat Darmstadt of Germany, the 2007 first-place winners.
This year, 200,000 visitors are expected to stroll through the solar-powered houses during the competition, which runs from October 8 through 18.
Each entry will be judged on 10 categories: architecture, market viability, engineering, lighting design, communication, temperature/humidity comfort, hot water, appliances, home entertainment and energy balance/surplus.
The BeauSoleil entry is being designed, not just for the Decathalon, but as affordable housing in Louisiana, estimated to cost between $120,000 and $150,000.
The house’s ability to generate extra electricity that could be sold back to the power grid or stored in batteries, as well as tax rebates for solar power, make the home design especially affordable, Gjertson commented.
“If we can win this for Louisiana, I think people might stand up and pay attention to us,” said graduate student Catherine Guidry, spokesperson for the BeauSoleil project.
More information about the contest can be found at www.solardecathlon.org; more information about ULL’s entry can be found at www.beausoleilhome.org.