SURE HOUSE

A team from Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey, United States is celebrating the completed construction of the solar powered Sure House; which has been built for robustness as well as maximum energy efficiency.

Sure House (SUstainable and REsilient) is fully solar powered and uses 90% less energy than the average home. Additionally, in the aftermath of a storm or other scenario that causes mains power to be cut in an area, it can become a hub for emergency power in a neighborhood.

Read the full story here…

The Measured Contests: The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon competition has 5 juried contests and 5 measured contests. The goal of these contests is to simulate the operation of a home and determine which teams have developed the most efficient solar houses. Check out this infographic we made that summarizes the 5 measured contests.

The SURE HOUSE is implementing tons of sensors to capture all sorts of data both inside and outside the home including measurements of energy consumption from our various appliances and energy production from our solar array. One of our side projects has been to develop a building integrated interface that, through physical interaction, can inform a homeowners as to their energy ‘budget’ and ‘expenses’. Some of our students went ahead to prototype this interface which will eventually make its way into the house and access data from the home server storing all the sensor data. Ultimately, we hope that by informing users of their habits and usage we can encourage them to use less energy.

Our systems for electric energy monitoring:

Cooking: Electric Range + Electric Oven + Refrigerator

Cleaning: Dishwasher + Clothes Washer + Clothes Dryer

Car: Electric Vehicle Charger

Light: Lighting

Entertainment: Television + Audio System

Water: Pumps + Hot Water Tank

Comfort: Heating + Ventilation + Air Conditioning + Fans

Solar: Solar Photovoltaic Energy Production