Solar energy, design and constructions take students to China

Cristina Miralles / Staff Writer

The University is among six U.S. universities chosen to participate in the Solar Decathlon China 2013. During this year-long competition, student participants will be educated on using renewable energy and energy-efficient technologies in buildings.

The primary goal of this competition is to improve residential building energy. The students will be accompanied by Yimin Zhu, faculty advisor, and Emmanuel Okwor, president of The Associated General Contractors of America student chapter at the University.

The University’s team is currently made up of 12 students from various majors, such as architecture, construction management, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, financial management and business administration. The competition challenges scholars to design, build and operate solar-powered houses that are cost-effective, energy-efficient and attractive. It will assess the team’s ability to conserve energy, control their physical environment and ability to be fully energy sufficient.

Even though this may be the main vision of the competition, the students also have another goal. Okwor is excited to learn more about a different culture.

“FIU is a school of diversity and this competition is a great way to experience that diversity and gain from other cultures and working with a team,” he said.

Amanda Velazquez, a graduate student in the School of Architecture and Decathalon competitor, hopes to gain a lot from this experience.

“I expect to learn the whole process that goes into designing and building a project,” she said. “Also, this is an excellent opportunity to learn another culture and how this influences their design process and buildings.”

As of now they have a sketch for the building they want to construct. The University will be partnered with Tsinghua University, located in Beijing, China. Throughout the year, the students exchange ideas with their partners in China on how to build the house.

Okwor explained that they already have funds to build the house in China, but they still need to raise money to take the students to the country. “Our partner in China would do most of the fundraising for the building and its materials,” Okwor said. “We would need to do fundraising for a round trip ticket to go to China during the construction phase and for a place to stay with necessities such as food, water, means of transportation, etc.”

Velazquez said that in order for fundraising efforts to be successful, the group needs to have a good website that will attract potential sponsors and engage students into the project. The students don’t know yet if they’ll be able to go to China to participate on the actual days of the competition.

“With the collaboration of all FIU students and faculty, the fundraiser could be a success, but we will need to spread the information about the project to all the FIU community,” said Velazquez.
The team plans to host events throughout the year to attract the important businesses in the construction industry.

The competition will be organized by Peking University, along with Applied Materials as the launching sponsor. SD China provides a platform that reflects their commitment to promote new energy solutions. This platform includes collaboration where the students can experience all challenges including architectural, engineering, business and communication issues. Students will also receive the proper training to prepare them for a clean-energy workforce.

Market development will also be a key part in this platform. SD China wants to enable student research, development and deployment in energy efficiency and energy production technologies and will show the students that it is possible to build highly efficient industrialized homes that are sustainable without taking away the pleasures of comfort, aesthetics and the joy of living in them.

Additionally, SD China wants to raise awareness on renewable energy and energy efficiency, as well as teach the public different ways to use less energy.

If the University is one of the 20 teams to win the US $100,000 fund, they plan to use it wisely.
“We plan to add the money towards the building and to offset some overhead costs that we might have,” said Okwor.

They also want to help conserve energy on campus and make it a better atmosphere for the students.

Even though this is the first time the University is competing in the international competition, they have big goals and a strong mindset on conserving energy and bringing home what they learn in China.

“Our goal is to engage students in an activity outside the classroom work to experience the hands-on project,” said Okwor. “Also, since it is our first time competing outside the country on a solar decathlon competition, we would like to show them that we have what it takes to be the best.”