Solar Competition Gives Tuskegee Students A Chance to Shine
By Ronald Roach
A group of Tuskegee University students majoring in architecture and engineering fields proved to the nation their resourcefulness and academic prowess in creating and building a home of the future.
Competing in the Solar Decathlon, a national contest sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Tuskegee team, under the supervision of academic advisers, assembled a solar energy-powered house on the national Mall in Washington, D.C.
The house, which cost nearly $189,000 in materials, construction and other expenses, had originally been constructed on the Tuskegee campus over the summer, but was disassembled in September so it could be transported to Washington. The completed energy efficient 800-square-foot house featured a Southern-style porch, breezeway, full bathroom and computer monitoring. “We got a great response from the public,” says Treylon Raines, a senior architecture major from Montgomery, Ala., who is part of the Tuskegee team.
The historically Black school was one of 14 institutions that built solar energy homes in the national competition. For 11 days this fall in Washington, thousands of people flocked to visit the entries in the Solar Decathlon. BP Solar, the American Institute of Architects, Electronic Data Systems and Home Depot were private-sector sponsors of the national competition.
“Some people said they were proud to see a Black school in the contest,” Raines notes.
