Panel The Planet

A group of UC Riverside mechanical engineering undergrads started a year and a half ago with just a grant application and an idea.

None of them had architectural or building construction experience. Yet they managed to obtain funding and design and build from the ground up a showcase house that will use solar electricity so wisely it doesn’t need to be connected to the grid.

Fresh off exhibiting a section of the house at a home design show in Orange County, the students were invited in November to design and display a second home at an international design competition in St. Louis in 2025 called the Gateway Decathlon. The invite comes with a $100,000 grant, though the students expect to raise additional funds to complete the project.

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Source: UC Riverside

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Justine Yotti-Conrique and Michael Conrique just bought their first home together. The pretty, Spanish-style four-bedroom house in the planned community of Shadow Mountain is ideal for the young couple and their border doodle, Ziggy. Shadow Mountain is just one of many similar-looking communities popping up all over this fast-growing slice of Southern California desert, where young professionals like the Conriques are flocking thanks to remote work options and high prices along the coast.

But behind the home’s stucco walls and under its terracotta tiled roof lies a new breed of smart, energy-efficient home. One that’s part of California’s first planned smart, solar-powered residential microgrid community.

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Source: The Verge

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