Warmboard Greenlighted by Solar Decathlon Teams

The Solar Decathlon is a project of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in partnership with DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

The Solar Decathlon is a unique competition that draws a crowd of about 350,000 people. Twenty college and university teams design, build and showcase energy efficient, state-of-the-art, solar powered houses, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

Each of the teams compete in ten categories, including architecture, comfort zone, and hot water. Warmboard has been selected as a part of the radiant heat systems in many of these homes.

The Ohio State University

Iowa State University – Interlock House

Team California (Santa Clara University / California College of the Arts)

Team Missouri (Missouri University of Science and Technology)

University of Kentucky

HISTORY

In 2005, Warmboard was chosen by the University of Colorado in Boulder and the University of Texas at Austin to contribute to the heating system for their homes. It was a thrill for Warmboard when both schools made it into the top 10. In fact, University of Colorado won the competition.

Looking to the success of University of Colorado, five universities chose Warmboard in the 2005 Solar Decathlon. Tony Gasparich, President of Warmboard Inc. said, “It has been a pleasure and honor to be included in the homes that have great potential to shape our future. We truly enjoyed being a sponsor.”

Recognition as a team sponsor in the past has allowed Warmboard to continue gaining additional exposure in the green building community. As healthy, green, and energy efficient building trends rapidly unfold, more companies are beginning to realize that to be green is not a pop culture fad, but a way of life.

“Warmboard fits perfectly into a complete solar off-grid house. We conducted an analysis of our radiant system by combining Warmboard’s performance data with our building simulation data, and concluded that these two systems would be able to provide adequate heating for 87 percent of the year,” said one university team representative.

Warmboard’s contribution to the Solar Decathlon teams has allowed Warmboard to expand into the green building trends that continue to encompass smarter and more energy efficient products for home building.

Warmboard’s multiple application usage from standard water heaters to solar and geothermal systems, will continue to keep it on the cutting edge of green technology.

2007

Solar Decathlon Results:

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND FINISHES STRONG AT SOLAR DECATHLON COMPETITION

University of Maryland – 2nd
University of Texas at Austin – 10th
MIT – 13th
University of Cincinnati – 15th
Lawrence Technology Institute – 20th

University of Maryland’s LEAFHouse, using Warmboard Radiant Subfloor, placed second at the Solar Decathlon competition in Washington, DC and finished an impressive first among the 17 competing U.S. teams.

Maryland won the energy balance and communications contests and scored highly in the other events. Warmboard was also used in the University of Texas at Austin’s BLOOMhouse which finished tenth overall in the competition and took a first place in the hot water contest, second place in the engineering contest, and third place in the comfort zone contest.

When talking to the Maryland team about why they selected Warmboard, Amy Gardner, Faculty Advisor, states “Warmboard’s solution to radiant floor installation provided the LEAFHouse team and several other Solar Decathlon teams with an easy to install, low-mass radiant floor panel. It was a great fit with the LEAFHouse’s overall design goals, construction needs, and radiant floor system design.”

Warmboard is proud of the company’s history at the Solar Decathlon competition. In 2005, Warmboard was selected by the University of Colorado in Boulder to contribute to the heating system for their home. It was a thrill when University of Colorado won the competition and took first place.

www.solardecathlon.org.