Student project a triumph for O.C.
Alex McDonald’s road to graduate school started with a grant and a desire to build a solar-powered house.
The 30-year-old first approached UC Irvine with his idea for Casa Del Sol, a sustainable, drought-resistant home inspired by California’s state flower, the poppy, when he was volunteering for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon challenge in 2013. California poppies are considered drought-tolerant.
The idea blossomed over the next year as McDonald helped write the grant that would help fund the endeavor. Once the $50,000 grant was secured, McDonald started his graduate studies in mechanical engineering at UCI. The house will be his main graduate project, and he’ll be the project manager.
“As soon as the grant came in, they said ‘you’re in’ and all of this started,” he said.
The project is more than a personal success for McDonald. It represents a triumph for Orange County and its institutions of higher learning.
More than 100 students from UC Irvine, Irvine Valley College, Chapman University and Saddleback College have teamed up to work under McDonald’s leadership to build the solar-powered, drought resistant yet affordable Spanish style home for the 2015 Solar Decathlon.
The project marks the first time that a team from Orange County will have participated in the decathlon.
College administrators, students and city officials gathered Friday at Irvine Valley College, the temporary site of the soon-to-be-built house, to celebrate the efforts of the students involved in the project, collectively called Team Orange County.
The 1,000-square-foot building, which will use an energy-management control system, photovoltaic and solar thermal technology and wastewater recycling, will be presented at Irvine’s Great Park next October. The team will be competing against 16 other teams from schools like Yale and UC Davis
On Friday, with the flip of a switch that opened a small electronic representation of a poppy, McDonald kicked off the final yearlong stretch of the project.
“Today is the firing of the starting gun,” said IVC President Glenn Roquemore. “Your universities are fully behind you, and with that I’m going to say go Team Orange County.”
The home’s solar features will open up the building during the day to receive the ocean winds, also increasing its living space. At night, the house will close to maintain a comfortable living environment.
The house’s sustainable features mirror UCI’s own commitment to being a “green” campus. In August, the Sierra Club ranked the university first in its annual list of the nation’s most energy-efficient and environmentally aware campuses.
“For us, this is personal,” said Howard Gillman, UCI provost and chancellor. “Orange County is the hub of innovation and entrepreneurial vision for the region.”
The project also gives students the opportunity to spend a year working on a hands-on STEM-related (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) endeavor that emphasizes collaboration, Gillman said.
Chapman University President Jim Doti pointed out that this is the first time that four colleges and universities in Orange County have embarked in such a large-scale collaborative effort.
He ended his speech to students with a reference to the 1942 film “Casablanca.”
“As Rick says, this may be the beginning of a beautiful friendship,” Doti said. “And I think it is.”