Watts Radiant helps build solar houses

Against that backdrop, Watts Radiant is trying to help residential builders reduce their dependence on traditional energy sources.

The company was involved in the construction of two entries in the Solar Decathlon, a U.S. Department of Energy event in Washington, D.C. in October. The entries, one each from Crowder College in Neosho and University of Missouri-Rolla, are completely self-sufficient homes suitable for habitation.

Teams from 18 colleges across the country competed in the two-day event, which required the teams to disassemble their solar homes, transport them to the nation’s capital and reassemble them on the mall for judging in 10 different categories.

UMR finished seventh in the event, while Crowder finished 12th.

Dan Chiles, vice president of marketing for Watts Radiant, said the point of the project was to teach that houses can be self-sufficient.

“The main advantage of the technology is that using fairly available materials, you can equip a house with components that provide almost all the energy it needs,” Chiles said. “Not every house could be built to that same standard, but every house could take advantage of some of those (technologies).”

Watts Radiant is involved in installing radiant floor heating – a system that runs warm liquid through pipes under the floors – as well as the installation of photovoltaic/thermal solar roof systems.

“It’s a roof system composed of photoelectric cells with a heat exchanger,” Chiles said. “It allows the house to generate its own electricity but at the same time generate enough hot water for domestic needs.”

The homes are also environmentally friendly, free of greenhouse gas production and smoke from wood or coal.

As for the cost, Chiles said the Rolla team estimated the cost to buy its home would be about $200,000.

“That’s just a prototype,” he said. “What needs to happen is for American ingenuity and manufacturing skills to build the house for a fraction of that, based on efficiencies of scale, mass production and broad purchases driving down the costs.”

Those costs also are helped by the potential for tax breaks; President Bush signed a new energy bill into law earlier this year that will provide up to 30 percent in tax breaks for solar energy systems, though Chiles said the law is not clear on exactly what qualifies.

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Click below to view photos of solar homes:

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This story originally appeared in SBJ’s Dec. 6 e-news Daily Update. Click here to register.