[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 134 (Thursday, October 20, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2137]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E2137]]
  RECOGNIZING THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO SOLAR 
                             DECATHLON TEAM

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. MARK UDALL

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 20, 2005

  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 
accomplishments of a talented group of students from the University of 
Colorado who designed and built the winning entry at the Department of 
Energy's Second Solar Decathlon. CU's win is all the more notable 
because it is their second, after also winning the first Solar 
Decathlon competition in 2002. I am submitting for the Record a recent 
article from the Daily Camera describing the team's achievement.
  The Solar Decathlon is a competition organized by the Department of 
Energy that gives college students an opportunity to demonstrate 
practical uses of solar power. This October, 18 university teams from 
around the country and the world competed in the second Solar Decathlon 
to build the most energy-efficient, solar-powered house. Each team was 
required to use solar energy to power the entire house, and was judged 
on how well its house was able to produce energy for heating, cooling, 
hot water, lighting, appliances, computers, and charging an electric 
car. The houses were also critiqued on their overall aesthetic design.
  As a ``zero energy home,'' CU's house combines advanced solar energy 
systems and energy efficient appliances and thus produces more energy 
than it consumes over the course of a year. In addition, as CU's 
official Decathlon handout stated, ``The CU home is one that you can 
truly ``sink your teeth into. Materials used in the home's construction 
and furnishings read like a health food menu,'' including such natural 
``ingredients'' as soy, corn, sunflower, canola, coconut, wheat, citrus 
oil, and even chocolate. Using these natural materials was one of the 
team's five design goals, along with modularity, accessibility, 
innovation, and energy efficiency.
  Colorado's core team consists of about 20 engineering and 
architecture students, among them Jeff Lyng, Frank Burkholder, Kristin 
Field, Mark Cruz, Drew Bailey, Jacob Uhl, Jon Previtali, Bryce Colwell, 
Jimmy Chambers, James Dixon, Ryan Drumm, Kathy Clegg, Geoffrey Berlin, 
Koki Hashimoto, Isaac Oaks, Greg Shoukas, Adam Courtney, Seth Kassels, 
Abby Watrous, Tim Guiterman, and Scott Horowitz. Many more students 
contributed in other ways. The students were assisted by faculty 
advisers Julee Herdt, Mike Brandemuehl, and Rick Sommerfeld.
  CU's team had a challenge--to take advanced architectural and 
engineering concepts, put them together in a design, and build a house 
that could be a model of our energy future. These students met that 
challenge--and met it better than any of the other teams. I'm proud of 
these students and I'm proud that the University of Colorado produced 
such a talented team. Most of all, I am proud to represent these young 
people who are working so hard to make our way of life a sustainable 
one.

                 [From the Daily Camera, Oct. 15, 2005.

                   CU Team Clinches Second Solar Win

                             (By Todd Neff)

       The University of Colorado repeated as international Solar 
     Decathlon champ on Friday, thanks to a combination of 
     stubborn cloud cover in Washington, DC, and a bold decision 
     when the outlook was particularly gray.
       The CU team's 800-square-foot, solar-powered BioS(h)IP 
     mobile home won over entries by teams from 17 universities in 
     the United States and Puerto Rico, Canada and Spain.
       ``I'm shocked,'' winning project manager Jeff Lyng, a 
     master's student in CU's civil engineering school, said by 
     cell phone. ``The weather held, and it was really just dumb 
     luck that our strategy worked.''
       The team made its own luck. The second-ever Solar 
     Decathlon--CU won the first title in 2002--was dogged by 
     clouds. The CU team's energy-saving house, capable of socking 
     away 36 kilowatt hours a day in the Colorado sunshine, could 
     manage only about 5 kilowatt hours a day on the shadowed 
     National Mall.
       That was less than CU's and other teams needed to boil 
     water, launder towels, refrigerate food and fuel the electric 
     car, among other things.
       The competition, sponsored by the U.S. Department of 
     Energy, was fierce.
       ``There are some spectacular houses here,'' said Michael 
     Brandemuehl, who with architecture professor Julee Herdt 
     served as CU faculty advisers in both competitions. ``No 
     disrespect to the 2002 competitors, but the architectural 
     quality is head and shoulders above what we had in 2002.''
       As of Tuesday morning, CU stood in eighth place. The team 
     decided on a risky strategy: participate in a variety of 
     competitions--where small numbers of points can be won for 
     doing such things as boiling water and cooking meals--and run 
     down the house's batteries.
       Battery level mattered because the last of the Solar 
     Decathlon's 10 competitions offered 100 points--of a total of 
     1,100 possible points--to those who generated as much energy 
     as they used. Had the sun begun to shine, more conservative 
     teams could have refueled and leapt past CU in the standings.
       CU team ended up with 853 points, followed by Cornell 
     University's 826 and California State Polytechnic 
     University's 809 points.
       CU won three categories: documentation, communication and 
     ``getting around,'' which involved team members Scott 
     Horowitz and Isaac Oaks driving the team's electric car up to 
     eight hours a day. They racked up 319 miles in five days at a 
     speed of about 15 miles per hour.
       ``It was totally grueling,'' said project manager Lyng.
       CU's documentation effort was bolstered by three-
     dimensional computer renderings showing the operation of the 
     CU house's removable roof, done by undergraduate architecture 
     student Mark Cruz.
       The home is bio-friendly to its core, built with a raft of 
     natural materials including everything from corn to coconut. 
     Its defining innovation were Bio-SIPs, for which CU has 
     applied for a patent. These structurally insulated panels are 
     made of soybean-oil-based polyurethane, sandwiched between 
     hard sheets of recycled paper.
       Frank Burkholder, one of 20 core team members and among the 
     dozen who made the trip to the nation's capital, said the 
     Bio-SIPs held heat so well that the house lost just four 
     degrees overnight.
       ``It saved us a lot of energy,'' he said.
       Team faculty adviser Herdt said the home's strong 
     ``branding'' as a bastion of bio-based materials probably 
     helped in the eyes of judges. But it was a strong student 
     squad that made the difference, she said.
       ``I always ask them if they are athletes,'' she said. ``You 
     have to be a long-distance runner. You have to be consistent 
     in your work and conserve energy. That's what helped this 
     time--strategizing and staying strong all the way through.''
       The team's efforts got attention in high places. Lyng said 
     Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman quipped, ``I could see myself 
     living here,'' when walking through the CU home.
       The Department of Energy is increasing support to 
     individual teams from $5,000 this year to $100,000 for the 
     2007 competition.
       The CU solar home will host tours through Sunday on the 
     National Mall. Its doors also will be open for tours on the 
     CU campus following a 2,500 mile, biodiesel-fueled trek back 
     to the Front Range. Its final destination is Prospect New 
     Town in Longmont.

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