Now this is exciting! It is not every day that the US prevails over its European competition when it comes to energy efficient design and technology. But this time around it actually happened! The very talented team from Virginia Tech University just did it….. they won the European Solar Decathlon! Congratulations! I’d like to mention that the University of Stuttgart (my home town) scored a remarkable 3rd place in the competition, but back to the winners………
The LumenHaus is a remarkable project. It emphasizes integrity and endurance. The design decisions and material selections for this project aim to reduce indoor pollutants, minimize global warming, reduce waste, include recycled content, represent low embodied energy in manufacture and harvest, limit destruction to habitat, and rapidly renew resources. The best way to address issues of energy in buildings is to use as little as possible. The pavilion architecture allows low-energy patterns of use through passive heating, solar shading, and cross ventilation. Computer automated controls allow the house to automatically adapt to changing environmental conditions. Living in smaller and adaptable houses uses fewer resources, and the prefabricated construction process reduces waste and increases efficiency. Through that we can downsize our dwellings while improving the quality of life.
Watch the video below for a detailed presentation of the features of LumenHaus.
We think that homes like this will hopefully be the standard for future residential construction. While construction cost and ROI are definitely still an issue for projects like this, I think this project is a wonderful demonstration of what can be done with technology that is available today. It is our task and mission, to make projects like this build-able and affordable for our clients. EGC Custom Homes applauds the talented team at Virginia Tech for their achievement.