Solar-powered CHIP smart house now open for visitors

A group of passionate university students has built an award-winning Compact Hyper Insulated Prototype (CHIP) solar house in downtown Los Angeles. The dwelling produces the entire energy required for its operation from its roof-mounted solar panels. Paying off the efforts of its designers, the CHIP solar house last year won the international energy balance contest, the Solar Decathlon, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy.

CHIP solar house

Students from the Caltech Institute of Technology (Caltech) and Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) have joined hands to build this innovative solar structure. The 45 solar panels of the CHIP can generate three times more electricity than the building requires. Using the solar energy, residents of the house can charge two electric cars and as well power up the entire house.

All appliances of the house including the lights, cooling and heating systems work on solar power. There is nothing to fear about power failures inside the CHIP. Moreover, its roof is made of rugged vinyl surface, meaning that there will be a warm and cool atmosphere inside the house. As its exterior is wrapped up with vinyl, the trade group The Vinyl Institute has partly sponsored the CHIP house. Hanwha Solar has sponsored the solar panels and exclusive solar module required to build the solar house.

More than one hundred students from Caltech and SCI took two years and spent $1 million to realize prototype of the 750-square-foot structure. To replicate the structure, it will cost around $300,000 including the expense for materials and labor.

The designers of the project have also implemented an advanced Xbox Kinect motion sensing-based control system in the house. The Kinect video gaming system has been used as a master command center, which allows residents to control the lights and other appliances in the house through simple hand gestures. Thanks to a technology that utilizes a 3-D camera, lights in the house will automatically turn on and off as the occupants move from one room to the other.

The CHIP solar house is now open to public for visiting. From January 17 to May 31 this year, visitors to the California Science Center in downtown Los Angeles can tour the CHIP house as well. Visitors can enter inside the house and enjoy all the technologies and facilities set inside. The house will be open for free visitors on weekdays from 10:00 am to 1:30 pm. And, during weekends, it will be open from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.

Make a trip into Los Angeles this spring itself to enjoy the solar powered CHIP house. The CHIP will be a great dwelling place for those who love nature and sustainable energy. The prototype model contains all facilities required for a small family and so it will be a perfect dwelling place.

Via: SmartPlanet