Watch CBS News

Sacramento State Ready To Play Underdog Spoiler In Prestigious Solar Power Competition

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Sacramento State students are getting ready to compete in an international solar power competition, and they'll be competing against teams from some of the world's most prestigious universities.

The Reflect Home is in pieces, getting ready to be loaded onto trucks on Friday morning before heading south to be reassembled.

Sacramento State is considered one of the underdogs in the stiff, global competition, but they've already beat Stanford and Yale, who ended up dropping out.

For the last two years, dozens of Sacramento State students from four different departments have been hard at work designing and building their own version of an energy-efficient solar home.

"It's definitely been a hard road, but I am excited," said Senior Nathan Decker.

The Reflect Home will be entered in the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon in Southern California. The home must produce as much energy as it uses.

The competition brings the best and brightest minds from around the world to try and debunk some common misconceptions about energy-efficient homes and solar power.

The Sacramento State students partnered with local companies to design and build a 1,000 square-foot, two-bedroom, one-bathroom house for a first-time homebuyer. Building costs came in at under $250,000.

"If you are using more energy than what you are basically producing, you're basically being a footprint on the environment," Decker said.

Decker says their open-design layout brings the outside in, and shines a light on the importance of insulation and window placement throughout a house.

"It's all-natural light until night comes, so that reduces your energy usage—not having to flip on a light switch the entire day until it becomes dark," he said. "That's a huge money saver."

These students know they are the next generation of home builders and are hoping their designs will be seen in future construction.

The winner will be announced on Oct. 17.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.