Friday, February 28, 2014: India’s first team, which will participate in the World Solar Decathlon, is reportedly all set to leave for the Palace of Versailles, France. Team Shunya, as it is known as comprises of 70 members and will leave for the Decathlon in April.
Team Shunya has been working on a solar house prototype for the past year to showcase at the event. The house is scheduled to be finished by 15 March, post which it will be disassembled, packed and shipped off to the competition site. The house will be shipped six weeks prior to the two week long competition. The team includes students and faculty from the IIT Bombay and Rachna Sansad Institute of Architecture.
The prototype has a very functional design. It has a 5 KW solar array installed on the roof and is equipped with other sustainable appliances like a solar oven, efficient clothes dryer and a grey water purification system. The solar panels on the house produce nearly 23 KW of energy, every 24 hours. The total energy produced is either used or extra energy is stored. As much as 19 KW (average) is consumed in the design, and the rest is passed over to the next day.
Parth Bhatia, an IIT student and also a member of the team said, “The materials used for construction include hollow steel pipes for the skeleton and gypsum / cyber cement panels for the walls, which facilitate thermal insulation, keeping the temperature inside the house unaffected by the weather outside. The clothes dryer will work on the hot air from the air conditioner, while all our waste water can be recycled for non-potable use in the house,” in a DNAIndia report.
The whole project was build on an estimated cost of Rs 20 million, of which the team got Rs 13 million through sponsorship. Team Shunya will be putting the house on display after the competition and it will be used as a base model for any future green buildings or townships.
