Scope of Work: Solar Decathlon and Green Building

--Brian Halma & Jaime Fearer

One of the keys to the success of a University Center as a hub for economic growth is its role in generating research outputs and inventions, as well as its ability to disseminate technology to entrepreneurs and businesses for commercial application. The Solar Decathlon team at the University of Maryland (UMD) is an asset that generates applied research that can and should be commercialized. The UMD team will be a finalist for the fourth time in the history of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Decathlon, joining 19 other finalist teams from around the world in the 5th biennial competition. As part of the competition, a multi-disciplinary team of students spent nearly two years designing a house that fulfills DOE’s criteria of being “cost-effective, energy-efficient and attractive” and powered solely by the sun. The nature of the competition lends itself to providing technology that is applicable to the emerging “green” construction industry. Two of the ten jury categories in the Solar Decathlon are “Market Appeal,” with the broad focus of livability, marketability and buildability, and “Affordability,” which scores houses based on a target cost of $250,000. The overarching purpose of the Solar Decathlon is to educate the public and disseminate information about clean-energy products, energy-efficient construction, and a clean-energy workforce. According to DOE, members of the public toured Solar Decathlon houses more than 300,000 times in 2009. Additionally, DOE conducted 32 workshops for the public and a day of workshops for building professionals that hosted more than 500 in the field. The DOE effort is a start, but UMD’s University Center would provide a more targeted, intensive effort that would encourage the commercialization of innovations in materials and methods developed during the course of the Solar Decathlon. This effort would be supported by UMD assets, including the Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC) and the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute (Mtech).

This element of the University Center will play a coordinating role in filling the gap between the innovations generated through the University of Maryland’s Solar Decathlon team and their commercial application by entrepreneurs. The Solar Decathlon team develops new products and processes in the green building field. The University of Maryland Office of Technology Commercialization will assist in patenting and licensing issues. Finally, the actual innovations will lead to increased efficiency in the built environment.

The Washington, DC, region is a leader in green building. The District of Columbia itself has the highest ratio of LEED certified square footage per resident, and 171 LEED certified buildings were built in the District, Northern Virginia, and the Maryland suburbs of DC between 2003 and 2009. Green building represents both economic development and an opportunity to promote environmental sustainability. The UMD University Center would not only increase the dissemination of green building techniques, but it would also increase opportunities for new and emerging green building companies. By working with industry partners such as the Maryland National Capital Building Association (MNCBIA), the UMD University Center can demonstrate the marketability of green aspects of home construction and demonstrate their ability to be incorporated into buildings on a wide scale. The focus would be on local, craft, and custom builders because these professionals have greater autonomy in their choices for consumer options. This effort would additionally support entrepreneurs in the field of green construction, by connecting them to builders who would utilize their services.

This element of the University Center will play a coordinating role in supporting the development of the green building cluster in the National Capital region and connecting suppliers of green building materials and methods with a growing market. Again, the dissemination of these techniques will support a more sustainable, reduced carbon footprint for the built environment in the National Capital region by making green building techniques and methods more readily available to area builders, but it will also develop the market for these methods and create opportunities for entrepreneurs in the green building field both nationally and internationally.