91传媒 team advances as finalist in U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon Design Challenge
Contact: Landon Gibson
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擜t Mississippi State, new student groups are on the rise鈥攏one more electrifying than the College of Engineering鈥檚 Energy Club, an organization that houses the interdisciplinary Solar Decathlon team.
Led by junior electrical engineering major Liam Nelson of Huntsville, Alabama, the Energy Club assembled in 2020, with an eye toward competing in the U.S. Department of Energy鈥檚 鈥攁 student competition consisting of two major challenges as teams design and build highly efficient and innovative buildings powered by renewable energy.
With competitions continuing through 2023, the 10 contests span architecture, engineering, market analysis, durability and resilience, embodied environmental impact, integrated performance, occupant experience, comfort and environmental quality, energy performance and presentation. Just like athletic decathlons, teams must perform well across all contests to be victorious.
After submitting their project proposal, 91传媒鈥檚 team advanced as one of 63 finalists that will present April 15-19 to industry-recognized jurors at the virtual Solar Decathlon Competition Event.
鈥淲hat is so impressive is the students鈥 abilities to balance this project with their studies,鈥 said Assistant Professor of Architecture Duane McLemore. 鈥淭hey really got a sense of how big of a commitment the design challenge is, but they also saw what an opportunity it is.鈥
To excel in the design contest, the Solar Decathlon team must create a net-zero home, meaning that the home produces more energy than it consumes. According to Nelson, there are several different ways to approach this challenge, but renewable energy is the primary focus. While some energy must be used, the team must offset it by producing more, he said.
Competing in the attached housing division, the club must meet the challenge鈥檚 parameters by designing row homes, or flats, and making the building up to three stories above grade, with a building size of 500-2,500 square feet and a lot size up to 3,000 square feet.
Another factor is the climate where the design will be built.
鈥淐limate is going to be different everywhere,鈥 said Nelson. 鈥淲e decided what location to use, which is Starkville, and then started designing for this climate. We are designing on an open, triangular plot at the intersection of Russell St. and Highway 12. When a team member brought up the idea to design there, we all thought it was perfect.鈥
Moving forward, the team must submit their design portfolio, team photos, presentation recording and slides.
Nelson said if the group does well, they likely will take their presentation and pitch to different potential investors to advance to the build competition phase, where the goal will be to adapt a design to be a single-family home, rather than attached housing.
As the Energy Club鈥檚 president, Nelson said the group came together when he and a couple of friends decided to join an extra-curricular activity on campus. He reached out to several professors for assistance and received outpouring support from Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Heejin Cho in the Bagley College of Engineering, as well as McLemore in the School of Architecture. Both have worked closely with the club since its fruition.
鈥淎t the start, we didn鈥檛 think we would ever get this far, but our ideas have become more and more of a reality,鈥 said Nelson.
According to McLemore, the design challenge always wants to see products that are student-executed, and he admires their group鈥檚 ability to recruit because these students already deal with a demanding workload.
Such a large project invokes cross-college contributions, mainly from the Bagley College of Engineering and the College of Architecture, Art and Design. The architecture and engineering students talk around 10 hours per week to make sure all of their ideas align, such as running duct work throughout the design house. The group also holds bi-weekly check-ins with faculty leaders to discuss progress and determine what steps come next.
鈥淢ississippi State has always excelled at the interdisciplinary side of things,鈥 said McLemore. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 not just faculty research, but students and faculty all working together. Nothing is in a silo here, and our students are the perfect example.鈥
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