University of Waterloo’s Warrior Home Student Design Team attended the 2022 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Decathlon event this April 22 -24, 2022 in Golden, Colorado as part of the 2023 Build Challenge.
The Competition Team consisted of Ankit Shah (ENVE 4B), Pierre Roy (AE 3A), Erin Hart (AE 3A), Anna vanderHeide (ENVE 3A), and Jillian Lee (MME 3A), with faculty advisor Prof. Daniel Lacroix.
The team presented their design and proposal for a net-zero retrofit project on a century home in Kitchener in front of industry professional Solar Decathlon Jurors to seek approval to proceed with the build and competition.
Following an outstanding performance during the presentation and question period, Warrior Home received approval from the US DOE & Solar Decathlon Competition to proceed with construction on the project, which includes a cash prize of $50,000 USD to go towards the costs of the retrofit project.
This substantial contribution brings the team’s successful fundraising campaign to $155,000 CAD, with notable contributions from Mattamy Homes, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the Office of the Dean of Engineering, the Kitchener-Waterloo Association of Realtors, and many more contributors. All funds raised will support the project’s construction with the team’s local first-nations non-profit housing partner, the Kitchener Waterloo Urban Native Wigwam Project. Construction on the home is expected to commence in late summer or early fall, with completion required for the final competition in April 2023!
In the past, the Warrior Home team has been recognized for their work in the Solar Decathlon Competition, placing 2nd overall for their 2020 Build Challenge with the Chippewas of Nawash and Habitat for Humanity Grey-Bruce. More information on this past project can be found on the CBC here, and on the team’s site here.
Information on the team in general can be found here, on the current project here, and on the Solar Decathlon competition here.
This outstanding achievement would not have been possible without the dedication and contributions from the Warrior Home team at large, including team executives Dana Usaty, Talina Sen Smet, Joyceline Nathaniel, Asjad Khan, Rachel Young and Rebecca Damsteegt, and leads and members from fall, winter and spring terms: Adrian Hutchinson, Alexa Sharp, Amy Markwart, Anastasia Jaffray, Angela Chen, Arden Beech, Augusta Li, Carlo Rosel, Carrie Zhu, Cathy Sebastian, Clark Xue, Colin Pederson, Courtney Lee, Dean Todd, Greta Haas, Guneet Dhaliwal, Hussein Hassanali, Jeffrey Keomany, Jeffrey Ren, Joanna Rywak, Juliet Wang, Kyle Macdonald, Landers Gordon, Luke Vandenberg, Matea Ceric, Matthew Linehan, Max Perry, Nick Sterner, Noura Macali, Omar Elmaghrabi, Reha Amir, Rehmeen Waqar, Renee Champion, Richard He, Sam Lyon, Samantha Ko, Sarah Kinney, Shinyoung Seo, Stefan Rankovic, Tegan Lee, Vedanjali Chhabra, William Gates-Crease, Yashvi Parmar. Furthermore, thank you to Prof. Atkins (Faculty Advisor) for their help and guidance and to Profs. Kapsis and Mather for their expertise.
Congratulations to all the Warrior Home team members, and best of luck on your project going forward!
Those interested in keeping up to date with the team can follow their social media and join their MS teams group here.