IIT-B students to take part in Chinese decathlon

Mumbai: Forty students from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IITB) will visit China to compete in the ‘Solar Decathlon 2017’ event later this year, which will pit the best student models on solar-powered houses. The students are part of ‘Team Shunya’ that will unveil the design of its ground-plus-one solar-powered house next week at the institute.

The new design has incorporated several innovations made by IITB in the energy sector. Team Shunya strives to produce a sustainable yet marketable house for the country. Throwing light on the event and the new design, an official said that team Shunya would showcase India’s technological advancement in solar housing. “The house that will be set up in the competition is designed for the upcoming city Amravati in Andhra Pradesh. ‘Project Solarise’ is an amalgamation of traditional architecture with contemporary designs. The project intends to cater to the housing needs of government officials, corporate employees and industrialists. The modular house with habitable area of about 2000 sq. ft. and would be easy to erect, commission, decommission and even transport,” said the official. The team Shunya contingent to China will be headed by Prof Rangan Banerjee.

The team had its first taste of success in the Solar Decathlon Europe 2014 where it incorporated passive solar technologies for natural ventilation, lighting and temperature control, solar oven, clothes dryer based on waste heat recovery and encouraged solar energy for community cooking. The use of these technologies created more energy than it consumed.

Elaborating on the future of the solar house the official said, “This project would give birth to an entirely new industry and generate new employment opportunities. The team aims to achieve this by collaborating with industry players and individuals working in different sectors who would be interested in contributing to creating a commercial end to end solution for energy efficient and sustainable housing.”