As the Project Manager for the University of Tennessee's entry into the Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon competition, which has been going on for years but finally will declare a winner later this month, Howard has eaten, slept and breathed the project for more than two years.
She has coordinated nine different teams from different colleges at the University, and has spent an untold number of hours working on "Living Light," the school's solar-powered home that comes equipped with a 10.9 kilowatt solar array on the roof, a revolutionary-sounding iPod application that controls mechanical systems,There are Parking guidance system underneath mattresses, lighting and even the home entertainment units (somewhere, Steve Jobs must be smiling at that one), and, well, wheels.
Wheels? Yes, wheels. This baby has to be transported to Washington, D.C. to be judged by the Department of Energy panel that will consider "Living Light" as well as 19 other finalists from around the world.
So yes, technically, "Living Light" is a mobile home.
" It's kind of amazing how much has gotten done in the past two years; it's hard to imagine that we're almost finished and finally going to be judged," Howard said in a phone interview recently. "Putting the wheels on, that was a lot more involved than we thought it would be."
According to Edgar Stach, a University of Tennessee professor in the College of Architecture and Design and the faculty advisor on the project, the development of "Living Light" into a Solar Decathlon-ready entry has been a four-year ordeal.
"The contest is held every two years, but really you need to spend 3-4 years planning for this," Stach said. "We really started thinking about entering this in 2007."
Stach said the first task was coming up with an idea and a design for a solar-powered house; three design teams (or "studios") from the Knoxville campus all worked up drafts before the final design was decided upon.
Stach estimated that it took one semester to develop the concept, eight months to develop the construction documentation, and about five months to physically build the house (the major part of the construction was only finished in early August).
Once the design was drawn up and submitted to the Department of Energy, the Tennessee team had to wait to see if they were selected for the Decathlon. Stach said it's a very difficult process, as more than 100 universities applied for the 20 spots in the bi-annual contest.
Once the Tennessee project was chosen after two rounds of cuts to be among the final 20, the hard work was already underway. Funding was, of course, a major concern. The DOE estimated that the cost of building the "Living Light" house would be $420,000, which Stach said "was pretty accurate, after we finished."
The university team built a prototype, a 240 square foot house, to showcase to potential donors, and a $100,000 start-up grant from the DOE (given to all finalists) also helped.
"Really, our funding came from the university community here, corporations, in-kind donations, from a pretty wide array of sponsors," Stach said.
Howard added that putting the prototype on campus near UT's football stadium on game days also helped.
"We would get people stopping to take a look at it while (tailgating) and they got really interested in it," Howard said. "It's so much easier to inspire donors when you have something, physically, you can show them so they can see what it will look like."
Now for some details of the actual structure: The actual house UT built is 50 feet long and 15-feet wide. Its style was modeled after the old cantilever barns of the Southern Appalachia area in the U.S., and features giant eaves to provide to shade.
She has coordinated nine different teams from different colleges at the University, and has spent an untold number of hours working on "Living Light," the school's solar-powered home that comes equipped with a 10.9 kilowatt solar array on the roof, a revolutionary-sounding iPod application that controls mechanical systems,There are Parking guidance system underneath mattresses, lighting and even the home entertainment units (somewhere, Steve Jobs must be smiling at that one), and, well, wheels.
Wheels? Yes, wheels. This baby has to be transported to Washington, D.C. to be judged by the Department of Energy panel that will consider "Living Light" as well as 19 other finalists from around the world.
So yes, technically, "Living Light" is a mobile home.
" It's kind of amazing how much has gotten done in the past two years; it's hard to imagine that we're almost finished and finally going to be judged," Howard said in a phone interview recently. "Putting the wheels on, that was a lot more involved than we thought it would be."
According to Edgar Stach, a University of Tennessee professor in the College of Architecture and Design and the faculty advisor on the project, the development of "Living Light" into a Solar Decathlon-ready entry has been a four-year ordeal.
"The contest is held every two years, but really you need to spend 3-4 years planning for this," Stach said. "We really started thinking about entering this in 2007."
Stach said the first task was coming up with an idea and a design for a solar-powered house; three design teams (or "studios") from the Knoxville campus all worked up drafts before the final design was decided upon.
Stach estimated that it took one semester to develop the concept, eight months to develop the construction documentation, and about five months to physically build the house (the major part of the construction was only finished in early August).
Once the design was drawn up and submitted to the Department of Energy, the Tennessee team had to wait to see if they were selected for the Decathlon. Stach said it's a very difficult process, as more than 100 universities applied for the 20 spots in the bi-annual contest.
Once the Tennessee project was chosen after two rounds of cuts to be among the final 20, the hard work was already underway. Funding was, of course, a major concern. The DOE estimated that the cost of building the "Living Light" house would be $420,000, which Stach said "was pretty accurate, after we finished."
The university team built a prototype, a 240 square foot house, to showcase to potential donors, and a $100,000 start-up grant from the DOE (given to all finalists) also helped.
"Really, our funding came from the university community here, corporations, in-kind donations, from a pretty wide array of sponsors," Stach said.
Howard added that putting the prototype on campus near UT's football stadium on game days also helped.
"We would get people stopping to take a look at it while (tailgating) and they got really interested in it," Howard said. "It's so much easier to inspire donors when you have something, physically, you can show them so they can see what it will look like."
Now for some details of the actual structure: The actual house UT built is 50 feet long and 15-feet wide. Its style was modeled after the old cantilever barns of the Southern Appalachia area in the U.S., and features giant eaves to provide to shade.
