Middlebury College’s Self-Reliance Solar Decathlon House Wins Communications Contest!

We're excited to announce that <a href="http://www.middlebury.edu/#story289681" target="_blank">Middlebury College</a>'s <a href="http://solardecathlon.middlebury.edu/" target="_blank">Self-Reliance</a> <a href="http://inhabitat.com/solar-decathlon">Solar Decathlon</a> house just took took top honors in the <a href="http://www.solardecathlon.gov/blog/archives/1878">communications contest</a>, placing it 4th in the overall competition! If there was a house for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locavores" target="_blank">locavore</a> movement, it would be the <a href="http://solardecathlon.middlebury.edu/" target="_blank">Self-Reliance</a> house. Solar power is the star of the biennial design-build competition, but the team of students from <a href="http://www.middlebury.edu/#story289695" target="_blank">Middlebury</a> wanted to show that sustainability means a lot more than just renewable energy and efficiency. To do that, the team used local manufacturers and materials, including <a href="http://solardecathlon.middlebury.edu/design.php?page=materials#local_woods" target="_blank">wood</a> sourced from the College's own forests and insulation made from sheep's wool from a local farm. Living up to it's name of <a href="http://solardecathlon.middlebury.edu/index.php" target="_blank">Self-Reliance</a>, the house also boasts plenty of space for residents to <a href="http://solardecathlon.middlebury.edu/design.php?page=architecture#greenhouse" target="_blank">grow their own food</a>. Self-Reliance is currently holding steady in the competition, <a href="http://www.solardecathlon.gov/scores_teams_middlebury.html" target="_blank">nabbing solid scores</a> in the first few categories, including fourth place in <a href="http://www.solardecathlon.gov/scores_contests_architecture.html" target="_blank">Architecture</a>.

The familiar gable shape of <a href="http://solardecathlon.middlebury.edu/index.php" target="_blank">Middlebury's home</a> was inspired by New England farmhouses that are ubiquitous throughout the school's home state of Vermont.

"This competition makes sustainability about just energy," said Self-Reliance team member Addison Godine about the Solar Decathlon. "But it's a lot more than that."

The <a href="http://www.solardecathlon.gov/team_middlebury.html" target="_blank">Middlebury team</a> took pains to keep the carbon footprint of <a href="http://solardecathlon.middlebury.edu/index.php" target="_blank">Self-Reliance</a> as small as possible, thus their reason for using mostly local materials.

Over 85 students from more than 25 different academic disciplines worked together to design and build Self-Reliance.

All of Self-Reliance's <a href="http://solardecathlon.middlebury.edu/design.php?page=materials#local_woods" target="_blank">woods</a> -- sugar maple, spruce, and white oak -- were sustainably harvested from <a href="http://www.middlebury.edu/#story289695" target="_blank">Middlebury College</a>-owned forests.

The <a href="http://solardecathlon.middlebury.edu/blog/?p=1668" target="_blank">slate</a> used in Self-Reliance's kitchen came from <a href="http://www.vermontstructuralslate.com/" target="_blank">Vermont Structural Slate</a>, located in the southern part of the state.

The Middlebury team made sure that the home's inhabitants would be able to live as sustainably as possible, building in ample space to grow food. The kitchen has a large <a href="http://solardecathlon.middlebury.edu/design.php?page=architecture#greenhouse" target="_blank">greenhouse wall</a> in the south-facing window that will provide produce year round.

The Middlebury team used the produce in the greenhouse wall when they cooked a meal in the house as part of the entertainment category competition.

Self-Reliance's dining area is connected to the kitchen and situated between two large windows. The white spruce wood of the walls came from a Middlebury College-owned forest, and it is coated with an all natural linseed oil finish.

Planters line the large outside deck, wrapping all the way around the Self-Reliance house, allowing for an abundance of fruits, vegetables, and herbs in the warmer months.

A door in the kitchen leads directly out to the deck, making it easing for residents of Self-Reliance to pick fresh vegetables as they are cooking. The Middlebury team demonstrated the size of the deck with the placement of a four seat picnic table.

All of the finishes in the home are made with natural materials found close to <a href="http://www.middlebury.edu/#story289695" target="_blank">Middlebury</a>. Linseed oil from the flax plant, a crop commercially harvest in the Northeast, makes up the main ingredient in the vertical wood finishes, like the bedroom walls, natural hard waxes coat the flooring, and paint made from eggshells covers the interior walls.

A more private section of the deck is easily accessible from the bedrooms of Middlebury's Self-Reliance house.

The walls of Self-Reliance are 11 inches thick, and insulated with cellulose made from 80 percent recycled newspaper. The team displayed a chunk of insulation for visitors to see.

The 6.75kW rooftop mounted solar array consists of 30 <a href="http://us.sunpowercorp.com/homes/products-services/solar-panels/" target="_blank">SunPower 225 solar panels</a> that will produce all of the home's energy. Annually in Vermont, the array will produce about 7930 KWh of AC energy, approximately 1550 KWh that the house's projected need. Next to the panels is a solar thermal system consisting of two hot water collectors, which will assist the Self-Reliance house's heat pump, helping to heat the water by as much as 50 percent.

The planters wrap all the way around the edge of the deck, not only providing plenty of space for food, but giving the home a lovely landscaped exterior.

The inclusion of planters represents Middlebury's commitment to sustainability, as the growing space will allow the family to live a healthier lifestyle while also reducing their use of water, fossil fuels, pesticides, and fertilizers.

After the Solar Decathlon is over, Self-Reliance will travel back to Middlebury College where it will be a student residence.

The floor plan of the house.

A drawing of the home's exterior plan.