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CU's BioS(h)IP design is based on the Team's Mission Statement: "To integrate natural materials and innovative technologies in an environmentally conscious, publicly accessible, modular, solar home design." The resulting residence is a low-to-no petroleum single-chassis solar mobile home incorporating a patent-pending structural insulated panel system, called the BioSIP, which was invented by the CU Team specifically for their Solar Decathlon entry.
The CU home is one that you can truly "sink your teeth into". Materials used in the home's construction and furnishings read like a health food menu and include agricultural products and by-products such as soy, corn, coconut, wheat, canola oil, citrus oils, sugar and even chocolate. Using "low to no petroleum" resources means less energy was used in manufacturing the BioS(h)IP's materials and thus, the home itself. This feature combined with renewable energy systems for powering the residence enables the CU home to have an embodied energy dramatically lower than most U.S. homes. If more residences were built and operated using such techniques, overall U.S. energy use and associated pollution emissions would be greatly reduced. Natural materials in the BioS(h)IP come together to create a clean and comfortable environment both inside and out and measurably cleaner indoor air for the occupants. Like a ship that fills its sails with renewable wind energy for travel, the BioS(h)IP will fill its tank with renewable biodiesel fuel during its trip between Boulder, Colorado and Washington, D.C. The commitment to use fuel from waste oils and plants is based on the CU Team's low-to-no petroleum pledge for the Solar Decathlon and beyond. |