Green Building Innovators Will Come Down To Orange County For Sustainability Competition – Orange County Register

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Casa Del Sol was ranked ninth overall at the US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2015. The team, consisting of UC Irvine, Chapman University, Irvine Valley College and Saddleback College, took second place in the Engineering Contest. (United States Department of Energy)

Recycled building materials? Solar power? Or maybe something more exotic?

A $ 5 Million State Grant Will Bring a California Sustainability Decathlon to Orange County, with the goal of “motivating and empowering the best and brightest California to lead the state’s transition to 100% renewable energy. “.

Modeled after the US Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon, which Orange County hosted, the new Sustainability Decathlon will inspire teams of researchers, architects, builders and innovators to design and build the next generation of environmentally friendly homes.

“Competition winners will have to combine affordability, consumer appeal and design excellence with optimal renewable energy production, sustainability and efficiency,” states the competition proposal. “Everyone wins”.

The project was put into the state budget by Senator Dave Min, D-Irvine, and the grant goes to Fred Smoller and Mike Moodian, both professors at Chapman University, along with Richard King, who created the Solar Decathlon for the DOE. The event will be held in Orange County in 2023.

Teams selected to compete will receive $ 100,000 each to help their projects succeed. King, who will direct and direct the competition, is elated.

“Today is an extraordinary time in our life,” he said via email. “Last year everything stopped. Nothing looks the same now. Call it a readjustment. A pin. What ever. I think most will agree that the future is a new frontier. The (decathlon) challenges a new generation to run forward and succeed. I haven’t been this excited in a long time. … I will work hard to create (it) the largest design and construction competition ever held. “

Chapman University professors Mike Moodian, left, and Fred Smoller. (Archive photo)

These competitions have helped bring innovations to the market, including ultra-high-efficiency heating and air conditioning units, super-insulated homes, heat pump water heaters, triple-glazed windows and home control systems, Smoller said. They also accelerate public adoption of such technologies, with visitors visiting competitor homes saying they were much more likely to purchase energy-saving lighting and appliances and understand how to make their homes greener.

Additionally, participating students are provided with unique training that prepares them to enter the clean energy workforce.

The goal of the competition is to create designs that can be easily replicated across the state. This has long been a Smoller passion and his goal is to make Orange County the sustainability capital of the world.

“In the same way that Silicon Valley is known for computers, I want Orange County to be known for sustainability,” Smoller said. “What has made Orange County’s economy strong is the way it has evolved from livestock to agriculture, defense to biotechnology to high technology, this is just one more chapter. This will bring work. “

Euphoric business community

The business community is also enthusiastic.

“This is great. A blast from the past brings you closer to the future, “said Lucy Dunn, president and CEO of Orange County Business Council, which has supported the Solar Decathlon for the past few years.” I’m so glad our lawmakers are reporting funding back to OC as well. ! We have been a donor county for decades ”.

Interior of the OC Team house at the US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2015 at Orange County Great Park, Irvine. (Credit: Thomas Kelsey / US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon)

Conyers Davis, global director of the USC Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy, is also pleased.

“Governor Schwarzenegger was an early proponent of the Orange County Sustainability Decathlon concept and is delighted to see that the State of California has decided to invest in the idea,” he said via email. “Innovation is at the heart of California’s green technology success, and competitions like this will help ensure a cleaner energy future and the state’s long-term sustainability leadership.

Moodian envisions the event as a global sustainability fair. In addition to the big collegiate competition, it will also have an “expo” component where cleantech companies can showcase their latest and best products, he said. Given the county’s top-notch universities and innovative business sector, there’s no reason why OC shouldn’t be the sustainability capital of the world.

“It’s time to move beyond the fossil era,” King said. “The opportunity to make California the leader in sustainable construction is a challenge I am honored to undertake.”

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