Sun Sport: Home Builders in 'Solar Decathlon'

Aug. 3, 2007 — -- For young professionals looking for a way to finance their first pad, new solar homes may be the answer to preserving the environment and affording to a place in a swanky neighborhood.

In what the U.S. Energy Department calls the "Solar Decathlon," contestants are challenged to build an affordable house that runs entirely on energy generated by the sun. It doesn't stop there; the houses must also harness enough energy to fully power an electric car and be both attractive and affordable enough for mainstream America.

Architecture, design and engineering students from around the world are competing to build these homes and students at the New York Institute of Technology are in the running. For the team's 27-year-old architecture leader, Matthew Mathosian, the group's home, OPEN House, is a financially viable option for young people like him.

"[Our home] helps students like us who are in the transitional period of moving out of college and into the real world afford a home of their own," Mathosian said. A home, he added, that's equipped with a cost- and energy-efficient mortgage that makes living on Long Island an economic possibility.

The team's model, designed for a South Shore property such as Long Island because of the area's volume of sunlight, is disability-accessible and meets all federal building codes.

The NYIT team, one of 20 entries in the Solar Decathlon and chosen from among 30 proposals from the United States and abroad, will construct its home on the school's Long Island campus in Old Westbury, N.Y., before disassembling it and transporting it to Washington, D.C., in the fall.

There, the homes will be judged in 10 categories, including engineering, architectural design and marketability. As part of the competition, six people will live in the homes for 15 hours a day for nine days — washing clothes, cooking food, watching TV and cruising the nation's capital in the electric car the home powers.

The NYIT team's model includes two main parts joined together and is designed to be customizable. Its long core includes permanent features such as a bathroom, kitchen, laundry and mechanical systems.