Three Rust Belt Competitors

Can sun power dispel the manufacturing sector’s clouds?

by Kathy Kiely
American University Interactive Journalism Program
Fall 2007

Photo by Kathy Kiely
Listen to University of Cincinnati student
Christopher Davis discuss evacuated tubes.

WASHINGTON, D.C.–Even in the gloom of the nation’s industrial heartland, the sun also rises.

At the 2007 Solar Decathlon, a U.S. Department of Energy competition to showcase innovations in alternative energy, three of the entries came from states better known for their smokestacks than their photovoltaic cells. The contestants from Pennsylvania – Penn State University and a Pittsburgh consortium headed by Carnegie-Mellon University – and one from Ohio, the University of Cincinnati – were meteorologically challenged compared to some of the others who showed up for the solar home-building show.The two-week contest on the National Capital Mall drew schools from such sun-baked areas as California, Arizona, Spain and Puerto Rico. Pittsburgh and Cincinnati are among the country’s cloudiest cities, according to a list compiled by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Rust Belt decathletes said their participation made two important points about solar power: First, it can work even where the sun doesn’t shine a lot. Second it can re-ignite a sputtering manufacturing economy. All three Midwest schools showed how by employing elements of their states’ economic heritage in non-traditional and environmentally friendly ways.

Carnegie Mellon clad the core of its home in stainless steel, a nod to Pittsburgh’s sooty history as the Steel City. The University of Cincinnati recycled tires – a major Ohio export – to create a floor. Penn State juxtaposed slates salvaged from the roof of a dismantled central Pennsylvania barn with photovoltaic panels on the exterior of its home. On the inside, floor-to-ceiling racks of milk bottles – provided by a Pennsylvania dairy – screened the windows by day. At night, they can move to other areas of the home, where thermal-conducting liquids inside the bottles radiate stored heat.

Jumping Jack heating
The midwesterners admitted that weather can be a challenge. During the 2005 Solar Decathlon, which took place over two especially rainy weeks, Carnegie Mellon students resorted to doing jumping jacks in their living room to keep the temperature from dropping below the competition’s comfort range. “That didn’t work out too well,” recalls the school’s 2007 decathlon team leader Cathy Chung. This year, the team tied with Cincinnati for first place in the competition for maintaining power levels.

“Technologies are changing pretty quickly that can collect solar energy in all kinds of conditions,” said Dave Riley, Penn State’s faculty adviser. His team, in the decathlon for the first time, placed fourth overall. “Just like you can still get a sunburn on a cloudy day,” said University of Cincinnati engineering student Jeremy Smith, it’s possible for photovoltaic cells to store power even when the sun isn’t out.

Photo by Kathy Kiely
Penn State’s home features recycled slate
roof and an elaborate landscape.

With less sunshine in their forecast, the Pennsylvania and Ohio teams have to make it go farther. Penn State added plenty of insulation, in the form of slate walls and a thick Pennsylvania bluestone floor. Cincinnati avoided the need for an electric water header by installing an extra-large array of evacuated tubes, an older solar technology that utilizes sun power to heat water.The Carnegie Mellon team relied on extra-large battery “banks.” “If we have one sunny day and we use the energy fairly efficiently, it could last four or five days,” Chung said.Sun made jobs
Jerry Sorgento, a supplier for the Penn State team, provides a one-man demonstration of solar’s possibilities for re-inventing the manufacturing economy. A former aerospace engineer he says he worked on the lunar landing module, but in mid-career “couldn’t get a job.” He reinvented himself as a photovoltaic expert. His company, New Age Solar, “is my passion,” Sorgento said. So much so that he came to Washington to help Penn State install their photovoltaic panels.

“They put me to work and I’ve loved every minute of it,” he said. The Ohio and Pennsylvania solar decathlon teams are hoping other economic refugees from the Rust Belt will soon be saying the same about solar power.

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