By Chelsea Kelley and Nancy O’ Connor
Hi! We are Team Massachusetts and we want to introduce ourselves to you, our neighbors, for this exciting summer of 2011!! We are one of the twenty collegiate teams competing in the US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011, and the only team representing Massachusetts. The team is made up of engineering students from University of Massachusetts Lowell and architecture students from Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
Thanks to the City of Boston we have the unique opportunity to actually build our design, The 4D Home, this summer and have it housed and displayed in Boston’s Innovation District! It will be located on a 15,000-square-foot lot in the Boston Marine Industrial Park and construction begins at the end of June. We couldn’t have picked a neighborhood that we feel better meets and engages our visions and concepts.
After the summer, it will then be transported to Washington DC to be toured by the public on the National Mall from September 23rd through October 2nd. The teams compete in ten contests judging how well each integrates affordability, consumer appeal, and design excellence while maintaining maximum energy efficiency.
For almost two years, we have been working together to design, build, and secure funding for this completely solar-powered, 950 square foot home. The team’s goals are straightforward: design and build an affordable, energy efficient home; educate the public on the benefits of solar energy; promote Massachusetts’ green employers and workforce and of course win the competition!
The experience has really been incredible for all of the students involved. They are developing extraordinary skills that will prepare them to enter the green workforce with confidence and first-hand knowledge of how to create a sustainable future.
Come see The 4D Home for yourself! We look forward to meeting you, working alongside you, learning from you and sharing an exciting summer together! The actualization of our project in a real neighborhood and the potential to engage with you and your companies is a huge step for us and we are really grateful for this opportunity!
(We have still not reached our fundraising goals, so if your company would like to have the opportunity to support Team Massachusetts please contact Chelsea Kelley. In return you will be promoted on our website and in Washington, DC in the fall.)
Primary Contacts for the team are:
● Chelsea Kelley, Public Relations Contact
