Nov. 09, 2005 

Students Represent NYIT at Congressional Hearing

Old Westbury, N.Y., Nov. 7, 2005: Taking their quest for true energy independence to Washington, D.C., three members of NYIT’s Solar Decathlon team were invited to testify before a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on Nov. 2. The trio received this honor after NYIT’s solar-powered house captured fifth place in the Department of Energy’s international Solar Decathlon competition in October.

Eager to share all he had learned about alternative energy sources with the legislators, David Schieren, (Hewlett Harbor, N.Y.), a second-year graduate student, explained NYIT’s ground-breaking use of a hydrogen storage system. NYIT was the only school in the Solar Decathlon competition to pioneer a different way to store solar power other than the traditional battery systems used by the rest of the competitors.

“Solar energy, renewable hydrogen and sustainable design offer a future of true energy independence, a clean environment, and a greatly enhanced civilization,” Schieren, the team’s energy team leader, told the members of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Science’s Energy Subcommittee.

The subcommittee was charged with examining the research and policy implications of the Solar Decathlon, a global competition that challenged students from 18 schools to design, build and operate the most attractive, effective and energy-efficient solar-powered house.

Among the subcommittee’s goals is determining what steps are necessary to make solar power more viable in the mainstream market. Panelists from NYIT and three of the other top competitors – University of Colorado, Rhode Island School of Design and Virginia Polytechnic Institute – provided an overview of the innovative solar and efficiency technologies their teams chose to incorporate into their designs and whether or not they were experimental or ready for or already in the market.

“We view this as a vital demonstration project. Applying these technologies will help determine how to achieve further advancements,” said Schieren. “This system portends a new energy paradigm, based on distributed generation, inherently stronger than the fragile centralized system of today. We believe that hydrogen can replace fossil fuels.”

While solar energy equipment and infrastructure products are available today, Schieren says, there are barriers to overcome before mass consumer adoption, including a lack of public knowledge about the benefits of solar energy, high cost and short supply of solar panels and raw materials, inconsistency and uncertainty of government incentives, and lack of training for engineers, construction workers and architects.

Schieren, along with fellow Solar Decathlon team members - Heather Korb (Astoria, N.Y.), architecture team leader, and Greg Sachs, (Kings Point, N.Y.), lead engineer - encouraged the Representatives to set a clear national strategy with specific milestones that will lead the country towards a clean and renewable energy economy.

To view a webcast of the full committee hearing, visit www.house.gov/science/webcast/index.htm.

More about the Solar Decathlon: NYIT students bring textbook learning to life

“It wasn’t about winning or losing, it was about making a difference in the world and educating the public about the advantages of solar power and renewable energy,” says Korb, a fourth-year architecture student.

Unique among colleges today, NYIT is committed to taking what students learn in textbooks and classrooms and bringing it to life. After two years of researching, designing and building, 70 graduate and undergraduate students from the college made their universal dream come true by constructing one of the best solar-powered homes at the Solar Decathlon.

“At NYIT, students are encouraged to turn theories into reality. If ever there was an example of what our school does well, this is it,” said NYIT President Edward Guiliano, Ph.D. “Working from a shared philosophy that humans and the earth are one sustainable ecology, our ambitious Solar Decathlon team designed each aspect of the house to ‘tread lightly on the earth.’ This competition has truly given our students a chance to shine.”

The 800-square foot house was originally constructed on NYIT’s Old Westbury, N.Y., campus, disassembled into seven parts, transported and rebuilt at the National Mall in Washington D.C., along with 17 other schools - forming a “Solar Village.” The global competition, which ran from Sept. 29 - Oct. 16, featured teams from 13 states, Canada, Spain and Puerto Rico, challenging schools to originate and operate the most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered houses. NYIT was the only finalist participating from the New York metropolitan area.

“As with any major building project, it was critical that we monitored site operations and coordinated schedules and logistics, says Gerald Stramowski (Patchogue, N.Y.), NYIT’s construction and project manager and fourth-year architecture student. “Our team worked around the clock to ensure that we met the deadlines for completing, transporting, and reassembling the house on the National Mall.”

NYIT’s multidisciplinary team involved students from each of the school’s campuses, including international sites, and combined talents from the schools of architecture and design, engineering and technology, sciences and communications, management and culinary arts. Solar Decathlon teams competed against each other in 10 separate categories ranging from architecture, livability and comfort to how well the home performed in providing energy for space heating and cooling, hot water, lights, and appliances. In addition, teams were required to produce and use enough electricity generated by their solar energy systems to power a street-legal, commercially available electric car. Judges awarded points based on how many miles the teams drove.

“How often does a student have the opportunity to show the world her work? I’m one of the lucky ones,” says Korb. “I am optimistic that our project will help educate the public about the aesthetic and ecological benefits of solar and energy efficient designs.”

Described as a “futuristic Manhattan loft,” NYIT’s revolutionary design, dubbed Green Machine/Blue Space, featured innovative exterior and interior characteristics, including a recycled shipping container to hold the home’s kitchen, bathroom and mechanical operations and a roof garden for growing herbs and vegetables and collecting rainwater. Other unique characteristics included futuristic furniture design concepts and state-of-the-art interactive technology.

“Our team broke away from the traditional use of batteries to harness the house’s solar power,” said Schieren. “We employed the use of hydrogen fuel, a non-polluting source of energy to produce electricity and heat on demand. We believe this technology when used with solar power represents the future of renewable energy.”

Additionally, the team is the first group anywhere in North or South America to demonstrate Sanyo’s 200 Watt solar panels, the most efficient solar panels available. The house contains a total of 54 panels.

When the final results of the Solar Decathlon were announced, NYIT had captured fifth place overall. The team took third place in the highly competitive architecture and dwelling contests. A first time competitor, NYIT beat six other teams that participated in the inaugural Solar Decathlon in 2002.

“With electric, oil and natural-gas prices at their highest, many people are looking into alternative energy sources. These students, our future leaders, are pioneers and because of them a whole new world -- one with true, renewable energy independence -- could someday become a reality,” said Guiliano.

Architecture
NYIT’s solar-powered house demonstrates the regenerative power of the environment. The student’s objective was to separate the mechanics of life from accessible leisure space to create a house that can be globally deployed. Green Machine, created out of a salvaged shipping container, contains an 8-by-16 foot roof garden, kitchen, bathroom and mechanical system.

“Sensitive to the amount of waste on the planet, the team saw the opportunity to recycle a shipping container to create the structural framework of Green Machine, the heart of our solar home. It contains everything needed for survival,” says Michael Catalano (Central Islip, N.Y.), NYIT’s Green Machine team leader and fourth-year architecture student.

Blue Space, the living area of the house, includes a spacious ground-level room that allows for easy access and effortless configurability by its inhabitants and a second-level loft for sleeping. The adjacent clerestory windows deliver abundant light and provide a spectacular view of the surroundings. A bridge on the second floor joins Blue Space’s loft to Green Machine’s roof garden. Below the bridge is a breezeway, called an “and,” to provide access into the home, natural ventilation and connects the front yard to the backyard along a single line of sight. In addition, Blue Space also houses the photovoltaic (PV) panels that power the hydrogen fuel cell.

“Much of the project involved futuristic, high-tech elements,” says William Brady (Smithtown, N.Y.), NYIT’s Blue Space team leader and a recent architecture graduate, who continues to remain involved on the project. “What makes Blue Space unique is its ecological, environmentally friendly construction. The walls are made from Agriboard, a unique, biodegradable compressed wheat straw product -- something you typically would not find in an ordinary home.”

Energy System
The electricity generated by the house’s roof-mounted PV system separates hydrogen from water through electrolysis. The stored hydrogen is then used to power the fuel cell, which will produce electricity and heat on demand - day or night, any time of the year. “We are taking energy from the sun to create hydrogen, and using the hydrogen to produce electricity. It's a clean and renewable technology,” says Schieren.

The home is also unique because it consists of a regenerative hydrogen energy storage system. Any excess hydrogen produced on exceptionally sunny days can be stored and used on less optimal days, such as on rainy or cloudy days. Hydrogen production can be stored for months and used during the cold winter months.

Interior design
NYIT’s futuristic and multifunctional furniture was developed to maximize available space. For example, when not in use, the dining table appears as a piece of artwork - a structural cylinder - but when it is time to eat, five chairs pull away from the eating surface. Built on wheels, the chairs also can be used as additional seating in other areas of the house. The table acts as a space-saving resource because it has storage areas for place settings and reduces the need for cupboards in the kitchen. In addition, the strong and sturdy kitchen countertops are made of recycled pressed newspaper.

“One of our principle strategies of a sustainable house was to maximize utility and function and to minimize material and energy, says Mary Merges (Port Washington, N.Y.), NYIT’s interior design team leader and second-year interior design student. “As a student you usually see your designs only on paper, but to watch it be built and come alive, was something truly amazing.”

The furniture is more than just an element in the house; it also reflects the overall goal of self-sufficiency. The furnishings were carefully designed as microenvironments, able to provide their own lighting and temperature controls. The sofa, made of a special breathable fabric woven with filaments, has PV panels on the back facing the windows to collect the sun’s energy. The energy is used to power two lamps connected to the frame and small fans embedded inside its cushions, allowing for a centralized heating or cooling system.

Communication arts
Throughout the Solar Decathlon, hundreds of thousands of people visited the “Solar Village” to tour the homes on display. In the interest of minimizing waste, the National Parks Service mandated that each team could distribute only one piece of paper to each visitor. To ensure NYIT’s team made a lasting impression upon its guests, the communications team developed an interactive learning system to complement its student-led tours.

“Handheld devices provided visitors with a content-rich, multimedia animation presentation that explained the functions of many of the home’s key features. While waiting on line to tour our house, visitors had the opportunity to learn about each feature’s importance to NYIT’s design strategy and how it become a significant component in our home,” says Lawrence Yu, (Commack, N.Y.), NYIT’s communication arts team leader and second-year communication arts graduate student.

The development and construction of Green Machine/Blue Space has been meticulously captured on video. These images are being used to produce a documentary, which will be released this fall, explaining NYIT’s Solar Decathlon entry, the need to explore renewable energy sources, and the potential of solar power.

“My goal throughout the project has been to deliver clear and consistent messages and images to represent NYIT’s Solar Decathlon team’s mission, vision, and results,” says Shana Lerner (Roslyn Heights, N.Y.), NYIT’s documentarian and second-year communication arts graduate student. “Documenting the progress of our solar house has given me real-world exposure that I know will be invaluable throughout my career.”

Culinary arts
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, appliances account for 20 percent of energy use in the average American home - and same goes for houses at the Solar Decathlon. As the Appliances contest was one of the 10 categories teams were judges on, teams choose the most efficient appliances they could find, to help reduce the amount of energy used, for example a better insulated refrigerator. Each group earned points maintaining required temperatures in their refrigerators and freezers, washing and drying clothing, cooking meals and using the dishwasher. Teams also had to leave their television on for six hours and the computer on for eight hours a day.

To help with the cooking, members of NYIT’s Solar Decathlon team consisted of students from the school’s Culinary Arts Center. Utilizing the home’s solar-powered stove, oven, microwave and other kitchen appliances, these future chefs created a menu of original culinary masterpieces, including crab cake po-boy with a black bean salsa with chilled tomato bisque, jerk chicken with a fall garden of vegetables and roast Long Island duck with wild rice and pilaf. Culinary students prepared the food prior to the competition, packaged it in Cryovac and reheated it in Washington D.C. using the solar-powered two-burner stove. The freezer helped to keep many of their deserts cold, including their sushi green tea sorbet and maple walnut ice cream sandwiches.

“Working in that environment -- in the home and the village -- raised my awareness of cooking with renewable energy appliances. It made me think about how we as chefs, sometimes take energy for granted, such as leaving a refrigerator door open for a short period of time,” said Karen Boughton (Bayshore, N.Y.), culinary arts team leader and second-year culinary arts student. “Now I am coming up with new ways on how I can develop a more energy efficient kitchen in my own home.”

About NYIT

NYIT is the college of choice for more than 14,000 students currently enrolled in more than 100 courses of study leading to undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees from eight schools, including engineering, architecture, business, communication arts and medicine. A private, independent college, NYIT embraces an educational philosophy of career-oriented, professional education for all qualified students, and supports applications-oriented research to benefit the greater global community. Students attend classes at NYIT’s Manhattan and Long Island campuses, as well as online and in a number of programs throughout the world. To date, more than 66,000 alumni have earned degrees at NYIT. For additional information, visit www.nyit.edu.

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Contact: mediarelations@nyit.edu