Embry-Riddle and Daytona State College Homebuilding Team Head to Denver for Solar Decathlon 2017 International Competition

The BEACH House (BEACH stands for Building Efficient, Affordable and Comfortable Homes) was finished this week by a team of students from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Daytona State College (DSC), assisted by faculty, university staff and local builders. That’s the good news for everyone involved in the project.

The bad news was the manic scramble to get the home completed because of 10 days of construction time lost when Hurricane Irma hit Florida.

After a year and a half of fundraising, design, planning and building to meet the Solar Decathlon 2017 competition deadline, Team Daytona Beach found themselves working around the clock after the hurricane. An all-hands-on-deck effort this last week included additional student volunteers and the talented tradesmen from the Embry-Riddle facilities management team that helped to get the home finished.

Absurdly, because the competition is in Denver in a week, the team immediately took the house apart so it could be shipped to the competition site. And that would not have happened without the generous support of the James A. Jones Construction Company, which made a big crane available to hoist the deconstructed home onto flatbed trucks for the trip to Colorado during the last couple of hectic days.

In Denver, members of the team are reassembling the BEACH House at the competition site near  Denver International Airport. The competition, organized by the U.S. Department of Energy, includes collegiate teams from around the world and takes place Oct. 5-15.

Leading the team and constructing the home through the summer were a core group of students led by Mechanical Engineering Graduate Teaching Assistant and team lead Jenna Beckwith and project lead Thomas Freeman. Students working on the home included Michael Jividen, Abdellah Azeez, Bryan Elwell, Mark Christake, Alex Mehringer and several students who belong to the local chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers. 

John and Spencer Buckman provided professional expertise, as did Embry-Riddle professors Rafael Rodriguez, Sandra Boetcher and Jeff Brown, as well as research architect and DSC professor Stephanie Thomas-Rees.

Team Daytona Beach’s home being reassembled and showcased in Denver is one of 11 high-tech, solar-powered, energy-efficient small homes that were constructed on each school’s campus and then relocated to the Solar Decathlon Village in Denver.

The 1,000-square-foot BEACH House is a forever home designed for a small family to live sustainably, without sacrificing comfort. It features an open floor plan that will provide the energy-saving ability of a high-tech house at an affordable price and is constructed to perform cost-effectively in Central Florida’s hot and humid climate. The home is also designed to withstand hurricane force winds and rain. It was put through a nail-biting, unexpected real-life test just two weeks ago as Hurricane Irma ravaged Florida. The home performed flawlessly.

A team of almost 25 students and faculty from DSC and Embry-Riddle will be in Denver to finish construction and act as hosts when the homes are open to the public.

The home’s layout features an open floor plan with cross ventilation throughout, strategic window placement to draw in natural lighting and reduce energy consumption, nano-door technology and other features designed for comfort, sustainability and aging in place, including compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Other innovative features include a hydroponic garden that is irrigated through rainwater collection and a ductless HVAC system that will allow temperature control in each room. The structure uses 100 percent recycled cellulose insulation, Energy Star rated appliances and a 95 percent post-consumer recycled aluminum roof that will support the rooftop solar array joined to a whole-house battery storage system.

The 11 teams in the Solar Decathlon 2017 competition will be judged on criteria that include architecture, market appeal, engineering, affordability and energy balance. Solar Decathlon teams will be competing for a share of the $2 million in prize money offered by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Watch a video on the Solar Decathlon and Team Daytona Beach.

Members of the public will be able to tour the homes in the Solar Decathlon Village from Oct. 5 to 9 and again from Oct. 12 to 15 with each school’s students acting as guides. There will be also be a sustainability expo with organizations displaying the newest energy solutions and services to consumers.

Go online to learn more about The BEACH House and how you can support Team Daytona Beach.

The BEACH House sponsors include Florida Power and Light, Society of American Military Engineers, Rockwell Collins, American Society of Heating, Daikin, Buckman Engineering, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers Spacecoast Chapter, Blomberg, Hudson’s Furniture, Tesla Powerwall, Florida Green Building Coalition, Goodwin Company, Polk State Corporate College, TRAMCON Consortium, PipeFlow, Brown & Brown Insurance, WAC Lighting, and Federal Brace. Special thanks goes out to the staff of Embry-Riddle Facilities Management.

Learn more about the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2017 at www.solardecathlon.gov.