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FutureHAUS takes smart technology to the next level
Last edited Mon Jul 29, 2019, 04:10 PM - Edit history (1)
FutureHAUS takes smart technology to the next level
July 25, 2019
By Missy Schrott | mschrott@alextimes.com
While its Innovation Campus isn’t slated to be completed for another 10 years, Virginia Tech is already showcasing its talents in Potomac Yard.
FutureHAUS, an award-winning solar home designed by Virginia Tech students and faculty, is on display in Alexandria this summer. The 900-square-foot home aims to embody futuristic home building and living practices through sustainable energy, easy assembly and smart technology.
Temporarily located at 2602 Main Line Blvd., the house will be on display and offering tours until Aug. 16. It is based near the site of the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus, the 1-million-square-foot graduate campus that is coming to Alexandria as part of the deal that attracted Amazon’s second headquarters to the region.
Virginia Tech built the house for the 2018 Solar Decathlon Middle East, an energy competition in Dubai that attracted 60 entrants from around the world. Not only was Virginia Tech the only American team selected to compete, it won first place in the overall competition, in addition to placing in each of the 10 decathlon categories.
More than 100 Virginia Tech students and faculty members have contributed to the project’s research and development over the years.
....
The home will be on display in Alexandria until Aug. 16. Public tours are offered on Thursday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
July 25, 2019
By Missy Schrott | mschrott@alextimes.com
While its Innovation Campus isn’t slated to be completed for another 10 years, Virginia Tech is already showcasing its talents in Potomac Yard.
FutureHAUS, an award-winning solar home designed by Virginia Tech students and faculty, is on display in Alexandria this summer. The 900-square-foot home aims to embody futuristic home building and living practices through sustainable energy, easy assembly and smart technology.
Temporarily located at 2602 Main Line Blvd., the house will be on display and offering tours until Aug. 16. It is based near the site of the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus, the 1-million-square-foot graduate campus that is coming to Alexandria as part of the deal that attracted Amazon’s second headquarters to the region.
Virginia Tech built the house for the 2018 Solar Decathlon Middle East, an energy competition in Dubai that attracted 60 entrants from around the world. Not only was Virginia Tech the only American team selected to compete, it won first place in the overall competition, in addition to placing in each of the 10 decathlon categories.
More than 100 Virginia Tech students and faculty members have contributed to the project’s research and development over the years.
....
The home will be on display in Alexandria until Aug. 16. Public tours are offered on Thursday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
FutureHAUS
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Residential Real Estate
Take a peek inside Virginia Tech's solar-powered FutureHaus, now on display in Alexandria
By Laura Spitalniak – Staff Reporter, Washington Business Journal
Jun 25, 2019, 8:19am EDT Updated Jun 25, 2019, 11:15am EDT
The residence setup on Main Line Boulevard in Alexandria has moved five times since November. But don’t call it a mobile home.
The project, called FutureHaus, was designed by a Virginia Tech University team to disrupt the residential construction industry. In November, it won first place in the Solar Decathlon Middle East. The competition, launched in partnership between the Department of Energy and the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, was created to find the world’s best solar-powered home.
“It actually feeds to grid,” said Joseph Wheeler, an architecture professor at Virginia Tech and the lead faculty on the FutureHaus team. The prototype is energy positive, he said, creating far more power than it could need in an average day.
All that solar power means the one-bedroom, one-and-a-half-bathroom home can support its dozens of "smart" features. The bathroom has mirror that displays news updates and a movie screen projected on the shower wall. The house was made to interact with and be controlled by the occupants' electronics.
The 900-square-foot house is designed with customization in mind, according to Elif Patton, one of the students on the FutureHaus team.
....
Take a peek inside Virginia Tech's solar-powered FutureHaus, now on display in Alexandria
By Laura Spitalniak – Staff Reporter, Washington Business Journal
Jun 25, 2019, 8:19am EDT Updated Jun 25, 2019, 11:15am EDT
The residence setup on Main Line Boulevard in Alexandria has moved five times since November. But don’t call it a mobile home.
The project, called FutureHaus, was designed by a Virginia Tech University team to disrupt the residential construction industry. In November, it won first place in the Solar Decathlon Middle East. The competition, launched in partnership between the Department of Energy and the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, was created to find the world’s best solar-powered home.
“It actually feeds to grid,” said Joseph Wheeler, an architecture professor at Virginia Tech and the lead faculty on the FutureHaus team. The prototype is energy positive, he said, creating far more power than it could need in an average day.
All that solar power means the one-bedroom, one-and-a-half-bathroom home can support its dozens of "smart" features. The bathroom has mirror that displays news updates and a movie screen projected on the shower wall. The house was made to interact with and be controlled by the occupants' electronics.
The 900-square-foot house is designed with customization in mind, according to Elif Patton, one of the students on the FutureHaus team.
....
Solar Decathlon: Dominion gets behind an employee who is working to lower electricity demand in houses
BY PETER GALUSZKA
Jeffrey Ocampo/Dominion
Matthew Boys, a recent Virginia Tech engineering graduate, sits inside a folding FutureHaus model, the kind that might help reshape the future of house construction while making better use of solar energy.
Imagine you are waking up in your FutureHaus, a smart, solar-powered, prefabricated domicile with 950 square feet of space that looks like it was made out of Lego blocks. ... You order coffee and it brews automatically. To select your clothes, you touch a remote inside a mirror. Flashing lights show you which drawers the items are in. You touch another button and your Murphy bed folds up. The bedroom wall slides to give you an extra 550 square feet of living room space.
"All the floors in the house fold up. We want to make it more efficient," says Matthew Boys, a recent Virginia Tech engineering graduate who now works for Dominion Energy. ... By experimenting with new, prefabricated designs with renewable power underlined, Boys' and his colleagues' ideas could entirely reshape home construction. More pre-made sections, called cartridges, can be put together to expand living space. In the living room, a giant, flat screen television swivels so artwork can be displayed on its opposite side. The structure is completely solar powered. As much as 90 percent of water used in the house is recycled.
Boys is part of a Tech team planning on shipping their FutureHaus prototype made by students from Blacksburg to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates for the 2018 Solar Decathlon Middle East competition. A Dominion charitable foundation is one of three large companies pitching in $150,000 so Boys and his team can travel for the contest that runs Nov. 14 to 19. The house, neatly folded, is due to be taken to Dubai by ship in October for arrival before the event.
According to Boys, Dubai officials are keen on developing new forms of housing to take advantage of the days of sunlight in their Persian Gulf city. "They want to be the most sustainable city in the world," Boys says. ... The program of regular competitions got underway in 2002 when the U.S. Department of Energy started the smart home competition. A series has been held since. Virginia Tech has participated in several decathlons and in 2010 won first place in Madrid.
Boys got involved about a year ago after he worked his third summer as an intern at Dominion. Growing up in Bon Air and attending Richmond Christian School, he displayed a talent for mathematics and science before heading off to Virginia Tech. The Eagle Scout earned a degree in industrial and systems engineering in June. ... After returning to Tech in fall 2017, Boys sent high-ranking Dominion officials a 1,500-word email letting them know of the FutureHaus project. They took interest and kept up with it throughout the school year and after Boys went to work full time at the utility. They agreed to let Boys have time off to travel to Dubai and kicked in a donation. DuPont and Kohler, a plumbing fixture maker, are donating similar amounts for the Tech effort.
....
BY PETER GALUSZKA
Jeffrey Ocampo/Dominion
Matthew Boys, a recent Virginia Tech engineering graduate, sits inside a folding FutureHaus model, the kind that might help reshape the future of house construction while making better use of solar energy.
Imagine you are waking up in your FutureHaus, a smart, solar-powered, prefabricated domicile with 950 square feet of space that looks like it was made out of Lego blocks. ... You order coffee and it brews automatically. To select your clothes, you touch a remote inside a mirror. Flashing lights show you which drawers the items are in. You touch another button and your Murphy bed folds up. The bedroom wall slides to give you an extra 550 square feet of living room space.
"All the floors in the house fold up. We want to make it more efficient," says Matthew Boys, a recent Virginia Tech engineering graduate who now works for Dominion Energy. ... By experimenting with new, prefabricated designs with renewable power underlined, Boys' and his colleagues' ideas could entirely reshape home construction. More pre-made sections, called cartridges, can be put together to expand living space. In the living room, a giant, flat screen television swivels so artwork can be displayed on its opposite side. The structure is completely solar powered. As much as 90 percent of water used in the house is recycled.
Boys is part of a Tech team planning on shipping their FutureHaus prototype made by students from Blacksburg to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates for the 2018 Solar Decathlon Middle East competition. A Dominion charitable foundation is one of three large companies pitching in $150,000 so Boys and his team can travel for the contest that runs Nov. 14 to 19. The house, neatly folded, is due to be taken to Dubai by ship in October for arrival before the event.
According to Boys, Dubai officials are keen on developing new forms of housing to take advantage of the days of sunlight in their Persian Gulf city. "They want to be the most sustainable city in the world," Boys says. ... The program of regular competitions got underway in 2002 when the U.S. Department of Energy started the smart home competition. A series has been held since. Virginia Tech has participated in several decathlons and in 2010 won first place in Madrid.
Boys got involved about a year ago after he worked his third summer as an intern at Dominion. Growing up in Bon Air and attending Richmond Christian School, he displayed a talent for mathematics and science before heading off to Virginia Tech. The Eagle Scout earned a degree in industrial and systems engineering in June. ... After returning to Tech in fall 2017, Boys sent high-ranking Dominion officials a 1,500-word email letting them know of the FutureHaus project. They took interest and kept up with it throughout the school year and after Boys went to work full time at the utility. They agreed to let Boys have time off to travel to Dubai and kicked in a donation. DuPont and Kohler, a plumbing fixture maker, are donating similar amounts for the Tech effort.
....
