The university teams had great ideas for constructing off-grid homes that are functional but at the same time look great. The Georgia Tech team used space-age materials like an aero gel developed by NASA that diffuses light. The aero gel filled the polycarbonate panels of the walls and the ceiling. This gave privacy but let in a soft light inside the home, which would cut down on the need for electric lighting.
All of the household appliances were Energy Star. A couple of the homes had induction stove tops in the kitchen. The glass cooktop stays cool while the pan you are using to cook with heats up. It's faster and more energy efficient than the way we cook now. We also saw a washer/dryer all-in-one. It was compact - and in this one unit, performs all washing and drying settings for your clothes. Toilets were using .8 of a gallon for flushing. One toilet had 2 settings, which you may have seen in stores or commercials. One setting gives you a .8 of a gallon flush and the other is the usual 1.6 gallon flush. I kept looking for the pint-flush toilet but didn't see one. Several of the homes had radiant heating in the floors instead of a furnace. And they had on-demand hot water too.
The Solar Decathlon continues through October 20th and easily accessible from the Smithsonian Metro station. Check out our September 18th blog for the link to the Solar Decathlon site.
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