Texas A&M Solar Decathlon
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The Solar Decathlon is an international competition organized by the U.S. Department of Energy, which invites 20 universities to design, build, and operate the most attractive and energy-efficient solar-powered homes in the world.
We are doing more.

In this bi-annual competition, we are participating in the domains of manufacturing, energy management, communication, and philosophy by not only proposing, but enacting change before 200,000 members of the public and government on the Washington Mall.

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We are breaking ground no Solar Decathlon entry has ever touched. The focus of the Texas A&M groHome are sustainability, open source systems, disaster relief, and technological growth.


Sustainablilty_icon Sustainablilty

is the lens through which we see our building. The Solar Decathlon asks teams to design a house which uses solar energy to power it; we take our concept one step further by considering the impacts of the design, manufacturing, construction, and life of our building on the earth. The groHome building system provides the opportunity to grow, share, modify, and track architectures. We end up with industrial-revolutionized “smart” buildings who know where they’ve been, where they are, and where they’re going.

 

Opensource_icon Open Source Systems

are the future of software, technology, media, and architecture. By infusing community into the creation process—discovery and innovation accelerate. Take the examples of Wikipedia.org, YouTube.com, and Mozilla Firefox; apply them to architecture, and you get the groHome. By utilizing a building system we can construct our groHome from multiple locations at once, move our entire kitchen any time we want, and involve designers from around the world.

 

Prevention_logo Disaster Relief (Prevention)

The groHome helps prevent, and reduce the effects of disaster by introducing a new economic model into the home industry. To the chagrin of banks everywhere, the groHome allows homeowners to incrementally grow, take out smaller loans, and thus, all but eliminate the costs of debt. If a disaster does happen, the groHome comes to the rescue with scalable, secure, and sustainable housing. In fact, the groHome is currently being explored by CHUD and the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems for disaster deployment in Mississippi, Florida, and Qatar.

upperTech_icon  
Tech_icon Technological Growth

is a fact all areas of business have to come to terms with. We are entering a new paradigm where innovation is key and those intrenched in the status-quo will be left behind. The Texas A&M Solar Decathlon groHome carries the banner of innovation forward into the future by utilizinng the latest technologies through a platform designed for change. Although we incorporate today’s newest
technologies (RFID, BIM, CAM), the groHome will never decay—it embodies evolution.

 

DIY_icon DIY
Do it yourself! With increasing access and sophistication of tools and knowledge, individuals enjoy more and more areas of expertise. Bolstered by television an internet content, people want to take part in the design and construction of their home... and why shouldn’t they? Our Solar Decathlon submittal, like the groHome, requires no heavy equipment to construct. A team of four can construct our home in a matter of days. Soon, people will head down to their local hardware store and walk away with an entire room, or log on to eBay and sell their walls.


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