NOTTINGHAM: Students from the University of Nottingham’s Department of the Built Environment (DBE) are putting the finishing touches to The Nottingham H.O.U.S.E (Home Optimising the Use of Solar Energy) in preparation for the final of the first international Solar Decathlon Europe Competition which takes place in Madrid next month (18 – 27 June).
The University of Nottingham’s H.O.U.S.E, which is constructed almost entirely of materials supplied by Saint-Gobain, the main sponsor and materials partner, is the UK’s only entry in the competition which will see 19 universities from nine countries across Europe, Asia and the Americas compete to design a highly sustainable, solar powered home.
More than 100 000 visitors are expected at the final of the competition which is supported by the Spanish Government’s Ministry of Housing and the US Department of Energy.
Students will be judged on ten separate areas including architectural merit, market viability, construction, solar systems, electrical energy balance, comfort conditions, communication of the project to a wider audience, household functionality, innovation and sustainability. They are also required to host a dinner party at the final to demonstrate their design’s practicality.
Construction of the H.O.U.S.E. is now nearing completion at the University’s King’s Meadow Campus. In the next few weeks, it will be packed up and transported on a fleet of low-loaders supplied by logistics partner DHL to the competition site on the banks of the Manzanares river, where Avancis photovoltaic panels will be installed and the electrics will be commissioned to attach it to the Spanish grid.
