Students design energy efficient home for State Fair display

Posted at 11:31 AM on May 6, 2011 by Dan Gunderson
Filed under: Education, Environment, Research

Courtesy NDSU

In a special preview today, 22 architecture students at North Dakota State University architecture will unveil their designs for a passive energy home they will build at this year's Minnesota State Fair.

Passive houses can achieve energy savings of 80 percent or greater.

The structure will be designed to be the size of a four person cabin you might find in the northern Minnesota woods. According to Design Build Studio instructor Malini Srivastava, it will be heated by the equivalent of six light bulbs.

Passive homes take advantage of passive heat sources such as the heat generated by its occupants, the waste heat from appliances, passive heat from the earth, and solar heat.

Srivastava said the student project will be the first passive house to be displayed at the Minnesota State Fair. It will be part of the Eco-Experience exhibit.

The structure will be built to meet international passive house performance criteria.

Students in the Design Build program at NDSU will plan the structure over the summer and build it at the state fair this fall.

The students will show their designs from 1:30 to 8 p.m. in Renaissance Hall, 650 NP Avenue, Fargo.