The solar house of students is of interest to developers, but it will be for research

Prague - The solar house AIR House, with which students from Prague's Czech Technical University succeeded this month at an international competition in the USA, has sparked great interest among developers and private individuals. However, the fully energy self-sufficient house and its technical solutions belong to the university, so it will not be sold, and the school plans to exhibit it and use it for further research. Martin Čeněk, the chief architect and doctoral student at the Faculty of Architecture, told ČTK.
Exceptional success, with the domestic project finishing third out of twenty entries from around the world, will not be repeated by the young Czechs at the Solar Decathlon competition. The American side changed the competition rules after this year's edition, and now only teams from the USA can apply.
"We have recorded commercial interest in AIR House. In the Czech Republic as well as in America. From individuals, that is, users who would like such a house, whether as a cottage or permanent housing, which is both the purpose for which the house is intended - it is meant to be a cottage for the economically active generation of our parents and permanent housing for them when they retire and decide on a calmer life outside the city- as well as from various companies. We have been approached by developers and various other producers of model houses," Čeněk described.
The house, measuring approximately 13 by 13 meters with a usable area of 55 m², is entirely made of wood, and includes a large terrace covered by a pergola. One entire side of the house leading to the terrace is glazed; the interior consists of one large living room with a kitchen, followed by a bathroom. The terrace also features a small summer kitchen, and there is external access to a technical room and a small storage room for bicycles. The price of the prototype reached almost six million crowns, but the regular price could be half that.
Although the students sought sponsors for nearly two years of construction, the main partner and owner of the house is the university. The students now want to rebuild the house on the university campus in Dejvice so that the public can see it; afterward, it is to be placed in the newly completed University Center for Energy Efficient Buildings in Buštěhrad near Kladno. According to Čeněk, they are also happy to share technical solutions and "tweaks" with companies and the public.
The American jury praised the house mainly for its architectural and technical solutions and also in the category of market attractiveness. A number of sensors were installed in the house to measure temperature and humidity, as well as to monitor energy consumption and electricity production from photovoltaic cells.
However, while assembling the house brought in boxes from Prague, a key component burned out in the electrical switchboard. "Because of this, the house could not be controlled automatically - neither for heating nor cooling, nor for lighting control. Our technicians then regulated the house manually. They carefully monitored temperature and humidity trends on graphs and opened or closed windows and doors. Nobody noticed anything; the house showed values as if it were perfectly controlled automatically; it just worked great," Čeněk revealed. When programming the lighting, he said, the winning Austrian team helped them by lending a key component on the day the Czech house was evaluated by the jury.
A similar competition is held every two years among European universities. Čeněk did not completely rule out applying for the competition in Versailles in 2014.