Solar homes showcase alternative energy

26 October 2005Cnn.com

On a recent rainy night, Austin Quig-Hartman leaned over a pan of veggie burgers sizzling on the range and poked at some garlic potatoes in the oven beneath.

"A little California cuisine," said Quig-Hartman, a student at the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, flipping burgers as his classmates watched hungrily.

But this was dinner with a twist.

Every watt of power used to cook the meal and power every light bulb, refrigerator and iPod in this house came from an array of solar panels perched atop its roof, which offered commanding views of the Washington Monument and U.S. Capitol.

Quig-Hartman and teammates were among 18 university teams from the United States, Canada and Spain gathered at the 2005 Solar Decathlon on Washington's National Mall, competing to build and operate small homes that derive all their energy from the sun's infinite supply.

A looming 1970s-style energy crisis and gasoline prices near $3 a gallon have sparked renewed interest in solar power, which until now has been in an extended infancy in the United States since it was invented in 1954 by Bell Labs.

Sponsored primarily by the U.S. Energy Department, the contest is designed to showcase currently available solar technology and show it is possible to live comfortably today in a house powered by solar energy.

University of Colorado at Boulder's "BioShip" -- built from farm-grown products like soybeans, corn, wheat and chocolate -- won the competition, which was last held in 2002 but will become an annual event next year. Cornell University took second place, and Cal Poly was third, though no prize money is awarded.

Solar accounts for only 1 percent of the energy consumed in the United States, the world's biggest energy user. Costs for the typical residential solar array are around $25,000 and falling. Costs to install residential solar are about 25 cents a kilowatt-hour, over double the average national retail electricity price.

Solar-powered homes allow owners to reduce their emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases linked with global warming. Over half of the power carried by the U.S. grid comes from coal-powered generators that spew carbon dioxide into the air.

The United States is the biggest global greenhouse gas emitter, but President George W. Bush refused to endorse the U.N. Kyoto Protocol, which requires signatories to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 6 percent from 1990 levels by 2008-2012.

In the United States, solar power has long been the domain of gadget enthusiasts and off-the-grid survivalists, but programs to encourage its use in states like California and New Jersey and a federal residential tax credit up to $2,000 starting in 2006 could finally get solar power off the launching pad.

"The federal government has turned its back on solar for the last two decades," said Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association. "For the first time in a generation, they're now saying solar needs to play an important role in our energy mix."

White House hot tub

A few blocks away from the competition, the White House quietly sports one of the biggest residential solar arrays on the East Coast -- 167 solar panels on one of the maintenance sheds and extra panels to heat the pool and hot tub.

For the 20 days of the competition, the weather in Washington was decidedly un-solar.

The sun's absence spurred some compromises by the teams, who didn't actually live in the houses because Washington law forbids it but did have to perform the tasks of daily life.

Instead of cooking one day, the Cal Poly team saved their watts for the other tests they faced: heating shower water, charging up an electric-powered car and the dreaded test of washing and drying towels.

The foul weather made batteries the key to the contest. Colorado clinched it with a giant bank of 40 batteries that stored energy from the sun and allowed the team to run its house all week despite a lack of direct sunlight.

Each house featured high-tech lighting, water systems and many had space-age dishwashers. All were built elsewhere and hauled to the Mall on flatbed trucks, which inspired a kind of "The Jetsons"-meets-the-trailer-park vibe.

Each was up to 800 square feet, about the size of a New York City efficiency apartment. But that didn't limit eye-catching accessories and features, such as a hydroponic garden that doubled as a water-filtration system. After the contest, some of the houses were to be put on show by their universities and one was to be donated as low-income housing.

Virginia Tech's house featured translucent walls that projected a rainbow of colors and a bathroom fit for a green-leaning prince. It has black slate walls and floors, a 400-pound cast-iron tub and a water-miserly toilet.

The spotless white commode "has a number one and number two button, depending on your business, to save water," said Bryan Atwood, a graduate architecture student.