North House Faculty Leads Kathy Velikov and Geoffrey Thün have been invited to present design-research associated with the North House project at the 4^th annual European Energy Forum in Bressanone, Italy this coming December- one of the world’s leading interdisciplinary platforms for industry and academic discourse regarding the future of solar-based architecture and urbanism.

Velikov will present within the poster session program regarding the integration of systems design, IDP processes and user interface controls within the North House project and Thün will discuss mass-customization and prefabricated solar building systems potentials as the only North American plenary speaker that will present authored design work at the conference.

For more information, see www.energy-forum.com

After years of work and a few sleepless nights the 2009 Solar Decathlon competition is now complete.  The victors have been announced, with North House placing fourth overall.  We would like to sincerely congratulate all of the teams who participated in this years Decathlon, we have learned so much from each project and are proud to be among such excellent company.  We would also like to thank all our fantastic sponsors for their support over the course of this journey.

The team waits for the announcement of the top three teams during the closing ceremonies (left). Chris answers questions during an interview with the CBC following the announcement of the top three projects (right).

Lyn Bartram and Rob Woodbury of SFU are working with the City of Vancouver to bring North House to the Vancouver Olympics. The current plan is to have the house on display downtown in the Olympic Zone.  Negotiations are underway to showcase North House both at the Olympics and afterwards as part of the Vancouver Green Capital initiative.

Vancouver, the site of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

One of the key goals of the Solar Decathlon is to raise awareness among the general public about renewable energy and energy efficiency, and how solar energy technologies can reduce energy usage. One of the primary ways this is achieved is through public tours of the individual houses, including the North House.  There were a few questions that we, Team Ontario / BC receive quite often during tours - the questions and answers are documented here:

What is the total photovoltaic capacity of the house?

The total capacity is 14 kW.  This can be broken down to 8.3 from the Roof, 2.1 on the East Façade, 2.1 on the West Façade, and 1.5 on the South Façade.

How do the exterior blinds work?

The exterior blinds work with the highly insulated glass windows to accept heat from the sun in the winter, and reject heat during the warmer months.  They are automated using data from sensors on the interior and exterior of the building, the location of the building, the time of day and the time of year.  The user can override this optimized automated system according to their preference.  During inclement weather, the blinds are designed to go to the horizontal tilt position when the wind speed reaches 8m/s and when wind speeds reach 12 m/s they retract fully.

What is the purpose of the ceiling?

The ceiling is a sculptural solution for light diffusion and sound absorption.  The form helps to loosely define the spaces in the open living area.  There are 5248 individual cells of varying sizes.

Maun greets visitors as they arrive at the entrance to the North House (left). Visitors take a break on the deck after their tour through the house (right).

Tuesday was School day at the Solar Decathlon! Lindsey describes the samples to a group of students (left). A school group being quizzed on the basics of solar energy (right).

Our neighbourhood on the mall. Penn State’s Natural Fusion house is located to the left, and Rice University’s ZEROW House is on the right.

Humphrey describes the retractable bed to visitors (left). Aya discusses the densepack (right).

Team Ontario / BC celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving tonight in our hotel. It was so nice to sit down to eat with the whole team, and with the friends and family who have journeyed to Washington to support our Solar Decathlon entry. Dinner was served at 10:00 pm - after lockdown on the mall - so that everyone on the team could participate.

Team Ontario / BC gathers in the dining room for Thanksgiving dinner.

Duncan carves the turkey (left). Plum crisp and pumpkin pie complete the meal (right).

One of the features that we have been fielding many questions about during public tours of the North House are the photovoltaic panels mounted on the east, south and west faces. These panels are designed to harvest low angle sunlight, appropriate for our northern latitude. They are also extremely efficient at sunrise and sunset. However, as of the forth day of construction, these panels were not yet approved for our use on the National Mall.

The following is a description by Chris Black, one of the Project Designers who helped to coordinate the process of getting the panels approved for our use in the Solar Decathlon:

The PROSOL BIPV’s are the outer cladding layer of our rainscreen wall assembly, creating an integral, high performance, and energy generating skin. The custom frameless glass panels, back-painted black, utilize a cutting-edge BSC mono-crystalline cell (meaning the wires are on the back of the cell) that has an incredible 20% efficiency. They are mounted to the sheathing behind using the anodized aluminum Hunter Douglas Quadroglass Facade system, designed specifically for glass panel facades. The building skin is a primary example of the integrated design philosophy of North House, demonstrating how design and performance support one another to create an optimized and beautiful result.

The PROSOL Panels were manufactured at Schüco’s Aachen fabrication plant in Germany and meet the highest European electrical and safety standards, as certified by TÜV. The challenge to Team North was that European and North American standards are not harmonized and the additional safety testing required for panels to meet the UL 1703 standard takes 90 days; we received the panels on September 3rd and had to have them ready for Washington in less an 1 month!

We partnered with TÜV Rhineland North America and accomplished what appeared to be impossible. Existing testing was reviewed and 2 days of in-lab testing were required in TÜV’s facility in Tempe Arizona. We air-shipped the panels on September 30th from Dulles in Washington and by October 5th, Day 5 of construction, a TÜV Field Evaluation Engineer was on-site to complete an evaluation of our installation and performance. Assisted by our Electrical Team and architectural project management Team, Scott Kendal of TÜV as able to certify our panels as meeting UL 1703 standards!

We connected the panels to our system and on Day 6 we passed our electrical inspection with flying colours and grid-tied that afternoon!

North House, with the Schuco PROSOL Panels surrounding the windows.

Scott Kendal finishes the field evaluation of the panels (left), attaches the certification sticker (centre). The certification sticker on the back of the panel (right).

Check out the Team Ontario / BC demonstration web application!

This link lets you experience the user interface for the web application in a demonstration setting.

With this technology, if the user is away and wants to check the status of their home or to make any changes, he or she need only to shift the controls on the web application to control the systems of their home.

A screen capture of the North House web application.

Team Ontario / BC spent a full day demonstrating the North House to both the media and VIPs today, after the Solar Decathlon officially opened in a ceremony with Energy Secretary Steven Chu.

We had the opportunity to tour Guy St. Jacques, Deputy Head of Mission in Washington, Marc Lepage, Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Gary Mar, Head of the Alberta Government Office through the home. Team members also gave interviews with several Canadian and American news outlets. We were featured this evening on CBC News: The National, just after Rex Murphy. Also, check out this panorama from the Washington Post website highlighting Team Ontario / BC and our neighbours, Team Spain, Iowa State, and Penn State.

The objective contest portion of the Decathlon began today. These contests, which involve tasks like running the washer and dryer and monitoring the temperature and humidity of the house, are put in 5 categories, Comfort Zone, Hot Water, Appliances, Home Entertainment, and Net Metering. The Solar Decathlon has also just launched a scoreboard, updated every 15 minutes on their website. Follow this link to see how Team Ontario / BC is doing.

The Department of Energy’s 2009 Solar Decathlon Opening Ceremonies. Members of the press, located behind the VIP’s at the opening ceremonies (left). Energy Secretary Steven Chu announces the opening of the Solar Decathlon (right).

Lauren proudly displays the solar decathlete’s secret weapon, cough drops (left). Fabio, Humphrey, and Brad at the opening ceremonies (right).

Guy St. Jacques, Deputy Head of Mission in Washington, Marc Lepage, Minister for Climate Change and Energy, and Gary Mar, Head of the Alberta Government Office with Team Ontario / BC.

It was the last day of assembly before the unveiling of Team Ontario / BC’s North House to the world during the upcoming weeks of tours. Much of the day was spent making all of the final arrangements, testing systems and cleaning the construction dirt from both the house and site.

Simultaneously, the house was open to the media for tours and interviews, a part of the Solar Decathlon’s Media Day.

For the first time in the Solar Decathlon the house was closed at 10:00pm. From now on, we will be following a solar schedule, arriving to the mall when the sun rises and leaving when it sets.

We are all looking forward to the first day of competition tomorrow, and the opportunity to visit the other houses on the National Mall.

Cleaning! Both the exterior (left) and interior (right) of the house were prepared for competition with a thorough cleaning to remove the construction dust.

Dan polishes the newly installed North House sign (far left). Matt and Allan assemble the dining room table (centre left). Toktam makes sure the deck is free of all pebbles and construction debris (centre right). Chloe during an interview with the Associated Press (far right).

Safety first. Members of Team Ontario / BC file the sharp edges of the expanded metal mesh screen on the north side of the house.

The last day of construction means the last day in Washington for the guys from MCM, though they will be back in a couple of weeks dismantle the North House. From left to right: Ben, Adam, Maks, Luke, Phil, Witek, Lukasz, Piotr and Mykolai.

We were able to turn on all of our lighting this evening using the electricity we generated during the day. For the beginning of the competition tomorrow our generated power will be set back to zero. The south elevation (left). The north west elevation (right).

The National Mall at the end of Day Seven, the night before the opening of the competition.