Get Energy Smart Now Commentary: A quick cheat sheet to Solar Decathlon stars
The Minnesota team, with the ICON House, faced the challenge of being so far north, requiring a different angle for the solar pv plus the challenges of hot summers. Thus, the design to enable effective pv placement and overhangs to cut summer heat gain. However, designing for Minnesota created new challenges for designing for the competition in Washington, D.C.
Brutally cold Minnesota winters lead to very high heating needs. However, potentially hot, humid weather during the Solar Decathlon in Washington, D.C. creates a very different set of needs. The ICON Solar House must perform under both conditions, so to meet this challenge we need a thermal system that is optimally sized for both the Solar Decathlon competition in D.C., and for the Minnesota climate
Writ large, by the way, I found Minnesota's to be one of the easiest of the team sites to navigate, with clear (and interesting) explanations of a wide-range of issues.
Read the full commentary at getenergysmartnow.com.
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