Makrolon polycarbonate featured in Carnegie Mellon University’s Solar Decathlon competition house.
The Solar Decathlon, sponsored by the United States Department of Energy, is a two-year process where 20 collegiate teams from across the U.S., Europe and Canada compete to design, build and operate the most attractive and energy-efficient solar-powered home. This month, the teams will transport their solar houses to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., where they will form a solar village. The schools will then compete in 10 contests to determine an overall winner. Using only energy from the sun, the competing structures will generate enough electricity to run a modern household.
Bayer MaterialScience (BMS) has continued its commitment to sustainable development education and research by again participating as a sponsor of Carnegie Mellon University’s 2007 Solar Decathlon competition house.
 A scale model of Carnegie Mellon University’s Solar Decathlon competition house. |
“We are proud to be continuing our involvement with this important project through our sponsorship of another Carnegie Mellon Solar Decathlon house,” says Mark Witman, BMS director of future business and industry innovations. “The 2007 project makes extensive use of Bayer MaterialScience’s Makrolon® polycarbonate. Makrolon is the backbone of Bayer’s broad product portfolio and a material that has been an important part of the innovative design and environmentally conscious construction of the Solar Decathlon house.”
BMS supplied the translucent polycarbonate siding for the north wall of the 2005 Carnegie Mellon Solar Decathlon house. The Makrolon polycarbonate material will also be used in a light diffusing insulating roof panel for the 2007 competition house. It is the same high-tech and energy-efficient polycarbonate sheet that BMS is supplying for the roofing material for sporting arenas at China's 2008 Olympic Games.
The Carnegie Mellon team has also chosen Makrolon Multiwall IQ-Relax reflective polycarbonate sheet for windows in the house. The insulating product reflects infrared energy by virtue of its composition and multi-wall structure. The sheets function as panes in concept windows in the 2007 structure and provide high light diffusion and extreme heat reduction that result in increased energy efficiency. Bayer MaterialScience collaborated with TRACO, a southwestern PA-based commercial and residential window manufacturer, to design the concept windows.
BaySystems North America supplied BaySeal™ sprayed foam insulation for sealing and insulating portions of the competition house’s building envelope. It also serves to reduce air movement in and around the wall, thus cutting down on cold air drafts by achieving a moisture and thermal seal. The two-pound, closed-cell BaySeal spray foam insulation was applied to the structure by InsulRight of North Versailles, PA.
Other BMS materials are also featured in the 2007 competition house including:
• Baydur® polyurethane insulating foam—raw material that was used by CENTRIA Architectural Systems to manufacture the polyurethane/metal composite panels used for the building exterior.
• VIVAK® copolyester sheet—used by 3form Inc. to produce its decorative architectural panels that are being used for a variety of interior design and architectural applications.
“At Bayer, we are committed to the principles of sustainable development and strive to make a lasting and positive contribution to sustainable and environmentally compatible construction,” says Witman. “As an ongoing part of Carnegie Mellon University’s Solar Decathlon Project, we continue to demonstrate our dedication to treating the planet responsibly while offering products that can be used to generate creative solutions to address global concerns about the environment.”
The design of the 800-square-foot 2007 Carnegie Mellon solar house is based on the plug and play construction concept, which demonstrates the ways in which basic building blocks can be reconfigured to suit multiple contexts. The design is also multi-level to increase useable floor area for a given footprint.
“We appreciate Bayer’s ongoing involvement and support of this project,” says Steve Lee, architecture faculty advisor to the Carnegie Mellon team. “We believe that the 2007 solar house, with the use of Makrolon polycarbonate resin, will be another successful example of innovative and sustainable urban design.”
Following the Solar Decathlon competition, the 2007 Carnegie Mellon solar house will become a permanent addition to the facilities in Powdermill Nature Reserve, located outside Pittsburgh in Westmoreland County. Powdermill Nature Reserve is an outdoor educational center and biological field station affiliated with the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
ADVERTISEMENT