omni co-sponsors top-10 ranked uk solar decathlon house

October 09
uksolarhouse
The University of Kentucky Solar Decathlon team brought home ninth place in the U.S. Department of Energy's 2009 Solar Decathlon held on the National Mall last week - an outstanding achievement for a first-time competitor! The house was designed and constructed by an interdisciplinary team of architecture, engineering and communications students, faculty and staff from six colleges and 16 centers at the University of Kentucky. UK's entry, s.ky blue, is a 800-square-foot, fully equipped, single-story prototype house that uses only solar energy to power it and is designed to achieve net-zero—creating at least as much energy as it uses.


After arriving in DC, the team had just four days to reassemble the solar house to be judged along with projects from 19 other invited universities. Entries were evaluated in ten different categories including architecture, engineering, lighting design, net metering, comfort zone, communications, appliances, market viability, hot water and home entertainment. Teams were required to demonstrate that, using just solar power, their homes can do everything that other homes can do, from running computers to heating water and doing laundry.

Omni Architects is one of several sponsors of the project and donated time and expertise to assist the team in the design phase. After the Solar Decathlon, the s.ky blue house will be showcased on campus in front of the Main Building during UK's 2009 Homecoming Oct. 29 - Nov. 1, and will also be on display during the 2010 World Equestrian Games next fall.