UMd.'s WaterShed a leading entry in Solar Decathlon on National Mall

[Synicus Maximus]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Solar Decathlon pits leading home designs by students worldwide against each other in a competition to make homes not only energy efficient, but energy producers.

That's not enough for some teams at this year's Department of Energy competition which are taking a more holistic approach, including water-saving technologies in their designs and working to make sure their advances make it past the concept stage and into neighborhoods.

The University of Maryland's entry in the competition that opens Friday is called WaterShed and it is not only energy conscious, but water conscious.
...........

The home cost about $350,000, but the cost could come down to about $275,000 if more are built, team members said.

Read more: http://www.wjla.com/articles/2011/09/umd-s-watershed-a-leading-entry-in-solar-decathlon-on-national-mall-67019.html

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According to the DoE webpage "The winning team produces a house that:

Is affordable, attractive, and easy to live in
Maintains comfortable and healthy indoor environmental conditions
Supplies energy to household appliances for cooking, cleaning, and entertainment
Provides adequate hot water
Produces as much or more energy than it consumes."

$275000 does not seem that affordable to me.

[Kingofalldems]

1. Terps make history again!

[jtrockville]

2. Real estate is really high in these parts $275k isn't out of line.

Take a browse through realtor.com

[Synicus Maximus]

3. But there is no cost for the land. Its on the National Mall

[jtrockville]

7. Right. Last time I looked (~5-10 years ago) a tiny plot of land

in Bethesda was going for 800k (just for the plot). So $275k (just for the house) seems reasonable - it would have to fit on an 8 ft. x 8 ft. plot if the price included the land.

[AnnieBW]

4. Terps did better on the solar field

than the football field this weekend.

[JDPriestly]

5. I wonder how large the home is? From the photo, it doesn't look big

enough for a family, but I can't really tell.

[Yo_Mama]

8. From the article

After the competition ends Oct. 2, the home will be heading to the District's Deanwood neighborhood across the Anacostia River, where it will have a second floor added to bring it up to Habitat for Humanity's size standards, Towers said.

So no, it is not big enough for a family. And when the second floor is added, it won't provide all the energy it needs. But it is a nice start, I guess.

Regarding Habitat for Humanity size standards:
http://www.habitat.org/how/whatlike.aspx

U.S. and Canadian Habitat houses are modestly-sized by North American standards. Habitat’s guidelines dictate that a 3-bedroom Habitat house may have no more than 1,050 square feet of living space.

[Devil_Fish]

6. 275K not affordable? try living in the San Francisco bay area... any whare. NT

[Yo_Mama]

9. The actual cost of it would be more like 400K

If brought up to Habitat for Humanity's 1000 sq ft standard.

And then there's land cost, which in higher priced areas is the majority of the cost.