Blood, sweat, and photovoltaics

Engineering students eager to move their generation away from fossil fuels.

The house they’re building is small, but the SCU engineering students working on it have big ambitions: move their generation away from fossil fuels.

The house is being built as part of the Solar Decathlon, an event held by the U.S. Department of Energy. SCU is one of only 20 schools in the nation chosen—and the only school in California—to participate in the prestigious competition.

When the house is built, it’s going to be trucked across the continent and put on display at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., next October.

Project manager James Bickford, a junior mechanical engineering major and English minor, says team members see the competition as both a great opportunity to show their stuff as engineers and as a tremendous responsibility. “Being at an engineering school in Silicon Valley, we have the chance to influence a lot of development in the world,” he says.

Having spent the summer on research and planning, this fall SCU students worked with architects to finalize the design for the 600-square-foot house, and they began raising funds to pay for construction. Groundbreaking was slated for the end of February, with the house going up on the former location of the batting cages in Buck Shaw Stadium.

The house will be judged in 10 areas, including aesthetics, engineering, and its ability to produce enough solar power for multiple tasks—from keeping the house warm to washing and drying a dozen towels for two days, and from cooking meals and cleaning dishes to providing hot water for the shower. Excess electricity will be used to run an electric car.

Find out more about the project at http://www.scusolar.org. KCS & SBS

post-image Fun in the sun: SCU students have begun work on this house as part of the Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon. 3D Model: Gerardo Buendia
From Scratch

The new leader of SCU’s adolescent mental health concentration wants to design better mental healthcare delivery systems to help more kids, now.

Green Is the New Black

Leaders in sustainable fashion shared career advice with student designers at SCU’s popular EcoFashion Show.

Hop 2 It

How do you get from hops to beer? Sustainability interns found out by turning hops grown at SCU’s Forge Garden into “Forge Ahead,” an English-style pale ale.

Racking Up

Tess Heal ’26 is nabbing awards left and right thanks to a stellar freshman year with Santa Clara women’s basketball.