Low Income Solar is Here

Students at Rice University are proving that solar energy is not just for the well off  anymore.  As part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon, set to take place in Washington, D.C. in October, a group of Rice University students built the Zerow House at a cost of approximately $100,000.  The University plans to donate the home to a low income family in the Houston area after the competition.

According to Roque Sanchez, a Rice graduate student, "This competition is for showing the public that solar energy is here now and applicable to housing. We're taking a house that any family could live in and any family could afford and adding solar to it."

The Zerow House will produce all of its energy needs via a photovoltaic array as well as a solar water heater.  It is built in a row-house style similar in character to those found in Houston’s Third Ward.  It also contains a green wall of native plants watered by a drip irrigation system as well as a steel shade structure to cool the home.