Missouri University of Science and Technology
IN-2: Innovation 2

Missouri S&T Solar Village
One of the innovative ways Missouri S&T demonstrates sustainability leadership is through its Solar Village. The Solar Village consists of four solar-powered homes designed and built by Missouri S&T students participating in the Solar House Team. The Missouri S&T Solar House Team is a student design team that seeks to advance the University, community and environment through focused research, public education and sustainable design. The team has over 60 undergraduate members who work tirelessly to design and construct a 100% solar-powered home. The team utilizes a multidisciplinary team of faculty advisers to assist throughout the process.

Inspired from the success of the Missouri S&T solar racing program, students look for ways to apply solar technologies to residential structures. Students design, construct, and demonstrate practical ways of producing energy and using that energy efficiently in a home environment. Teams compete in capturing, converting, storing, and using enough solar energy to power our modern lifestyle by supplying enough power for an entire household.

Missouri S&T students began building the solar houses in 2000. The homes were constructed as part of the university’s participation in an international student design competition, the Solar Decathlon. Since 2002, the U.S. Department of Energy has been hosting a biennial competition that brings together 20 collegiate teams to design, build and operate solar-powered houses. In order to win, houses must be cost-effective, energy-efficient, and attractive. The winner of the competition is the team that best blends affordability, consumer appeal and design excellence with optimal energy production and maximum efficiency.

The Missouri S&T Solar Village is one of a kind. After each competition, the Solar House Team brings the house back and gives it a permanent home on the Missouri S&T campus in The Solar Village. These solar homes serve not only as campus housing, but are also used to educate the public, provide research opportunities, and demonstrate current and future GHG reduction steps available to the community.

Any Missouri S&T student can live in the Solar Village. Because it is on campus, it counts as Campus approved housing for freshman and sophomore students who are required to live on campus. Tenants are encouraged to practice sustainable living by watching water usage, conserving energy, recycling, and composting.

The Missouri S&T Solar House Team builds solar powered homes to promote a sustainable lifestyle. The goal of the Solar Village is for the houses to produce enough energy to be self-sustaining.

• Live sustainably- All of our homes are built and furnished with as many sustainable products as possible. The tenants of our Solar Village are chosen due to their dedication to live a sustainable lifestyle.
• Build intelligently- The Solar House Team designs and builds each home so that it may regulate its environment using passive solar techniques as often as possible. This includes anything from temperature to lighting and more!
• Generate renewably- Each house employs solar panels to produce abundant energy for the home as well as a solar thermal system to produce hot water for the radiant heating floor system and also for domestic hot water.

For more information about the Solar Village, including a full description of each of the solar homes, visit: http://solarhouse.mst.edu/village.html, or watch the video on Missouri S&T’s YouTube site: http://youtu.be/ynWfSbIvJjk.