Project Description
FROM THE STEVENS TEAM:
Stevens Institute of Technology celebrated the completion of the SURE HOUSE, an
environmentally sustainable, resilient house for coastal communities – one that
could better withstand a storm the size and force of Hurricane Sandy.
The SURE HOUSE will serve as Stevens’
entry into the 2015 Solar Decathlon,
a biennial competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy which
challenges teams from the world’s most prestigious institutions to design,
build and operate solar-powered houses that are cost-effective,
energy-efficient and attractive.
Stevens President Nariman Farvardin addressed a
crowd of regional politicians, including Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer, students
and community members and explained how the team has taken the Solar Decathlon
competition requirements a bit further.
“Hurricane Sandy devastated many houses on the
Jersey Shore,” said Farvardin. “This Stevens team said, ‘We will build a house
that will satisfy all of the constraints the Department of Energy has given us,
but there is one other thing that we want to do – we will also build a house
that is hurricane proof.’”
Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer says that the home is
the cutting-edge technology needed in the face of climate change.
“Stevens students were a big part of the reason why
we kept everyone safe during Hurricane Sandy,” said Mayor Zimmer. “Now we’re
here looking at how they’ve taken further reflection and taken their innovation
to really help the people of Hoboken, the people in our state and the people in
our country.”
Designed to meet the needs of middle and working class residents
who live in the coastal areas of New Jersey and New York, the design of the SURE HOUSE takes into account the
new flood maps issued by FEMA in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, as well as
the economic feasibility of innovative approaches to building in these
neighborhoods.
The project was an interdisciplinary effort, bringing together
students in engineering, design, architecture and other disciplines. Such
collaboration prepares students for the workforce where they are learning to
work through many challenges.
I’m really proud of what we’ve accomplished, taking a
relatively inexperienced group and working at a professional level under
deadlines that are even unheard of in industry. To have the support of various
sponsors has been amazing for a lot of our students to be able play with
cutting edge technologies in their undergrad and graduate experiences,” said
student A.J. Elliott.
Erik Linden,
NRG home solar spokesperson, one of the sponsors of the home, explains why they
are involved in this project.
“We were just blown away by the team because the spirit
of innovative they had was completely unmatched in anything we had seen
before,” said Linden. “All of you are in on the ground floor of something
meaningful and special.”
Features of the home include:
• Fiber-composite
materials that have been repurposed from the boat building industry, resulting
in a building armored against extreme weather
• Bi-folding
storm shutters, made of a composite foam core and wrapped with fiberglass,
installed to shade the home throughout the year and act as the primary
defensive barrier against debris and water during inclement weather.
• Use of
self-generated clean solar power, reducing energy consumption to 90 percent
less energy than conventional homes.
• Ability
to act as an emergency power hub for surrounding neighborhoods in the aftermath
of a storm.
Stevens students have been working on the home for the
past two years. They will disassemble the home at the beginning of September for
shipment to Irvine, California for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar
Decathlon competition, which begins October 8. To learn more visit surehouse.org.