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The Ocean Explorium invites engineers, architects, designers and all who are interested in a leaner, greener lifestyle to join us for the next Global Voice.
On Wednesday, April 9, the Ocean Explorium will welcome the Solar Decathlon team from Brown University, the Rhode Island School of Design and the University of Applied Sciences Erfurt in Germany. These students have accepted an important and timely challenge: Design a home that uses 90% less energy than a typical house. In addition, they must make it livable, flexible, durable and lightweight enough to ship from Providence to Paris. There, they will compete against 19 other teams in the 2014 Solar Decathlon.
Their entry into this summer’s competition is called Techstyle Haus: Tech for the Brown School of Engineering, Style for RISD, and Haus for Erfurt, in Germany. Their design will be constructed of durable, highly-insulated fabric and will incorporate a solar array as well as heating and cooling systems that operate on less power than a hair dryer.
Techstyle Haus is one of only two U.S. entries accepted into the competition, and construction began earlier this year. While the Brown/RISD/Erfurt team hopes their Techstyle Haus is well received, they are aware of the Solar Decathlon’s larger purpose – to educate the public about clean energy and sustainable living.
Doors open for Global Voice at 6:00 PM on Wednesday, April 9. There will be a presentation on the Science on a Sphere® at 6:15, and the talk will begin at 6:30 PM. Global Voice admission is $5 for members, $10 for non-members, $8 for seniors and $3 for children.
