EnOcean and EnOcean Alliance Members Leviton, Thermokon, Can2Go and Intesis Sponsor Empowerhouse Team in 2011 Solar Decathlon

Competition Challenges Students to Design, Build, and Operate a Solar-powered House

SAN RAMON, CA – September 26, 2011 – The EnOcean Alliance, a 200-member consortium of companies working to standardize and internationalize energy harvesting wireless technology for green intelligent buildings, announced today that EnOcean and other members of the EnOcean Alliance—Leviton, Thermokon, Intesis and Can2Go—are serving as sponsors of Empowerhouse, a team participating in the 2011 Solar Decathlon Competition. The competition began on Sept. 23, and will take place on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. until Oct. 2, 2011. Hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy, this biennial competition challenges college students to design, build, and operate a solar-powered house.

The EnOcean Alliance members are supporting the Empowerhouse team, which is composed of more than 200 students from a range of disciplines within Parsons The New School for Design, Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy, and Stevens Institute of Technology. The Empowerhouse team will take the competition beyond the Mall, by designing and constructing their house for a specific site in Deanwood, a working-class neighborhood in Northeast Washington, D.C.

The house is currently on display at the National Mall. Visitors will find a complete automation system inside the structure, consisting of Leviton dimmers, relays and switches, Thermokon temperature sensors, a Can2Go controller and a box from Intesis that communicates with the Mitsubishi heating and cooling system. At the conclusion of the competition, Empowerhouse will be moved to the site in Deanwood and expanded into a two-family home for local residents, working with Habitat for Humanity of Washington, D.C., and the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development.

“EnOcean and our EnOcean Alliance partners are proud to be a sponsor of the Empowerhouse competition to provide green affordable housing,” said EnOcean Alliance Chairman Graham Martin. “As a leading global provider of energy harvesting solutions and a pioneer in self-powered wireless sensor technology for the building automation market, we are in lock step with the Empowerhouse spirit of acting locally but thinking globally, and setting a new standard for affordable and sustainable housing that can be replicated worldwide.”

“The Empowerhouse wouldn't be possible without the support of sponsors like the EnOcean Alliance,” said Laura Briggs, Chair of Sustainable Architecture at Parsons The New School of Design and lead faculty on the project. “Our home will be a model for affordable, energy-efficiency, net-zero housing that can be replicated around the globe.”

The homes will adhere to Passive House principles—today’s highest energy standard—and will consume 90 percent less energy for heating and cooling than a typical home, incorporating energy-efficient appliances, maximizing natural light, photovoltaic panels, and micro-mechanical systems.

About the EnOcean Alliance
Leading companies worldwide from the building sector collected to form the EnOcean Alliance, with the aim of promoting and establishing innovative automation solutions for sustainable buildings – and so to make buildings more energy-efficient, more flexible and lower in cost. The core technology of the Alliance is the energy harvesting wireless technology for flexibly positioned and service-free sensor solutions. The EnOcean Alliance aims to standardize and internationalize energy harvesting wireless technology, and is dedicated to creating interoperability between the products of OEM partners. More than 170 companies currently belong to the EnOcean Alliance. The headquarters of the non-profit organization is located in San Ramon, CA. See also: http://www.enocean-alliance.org/en/

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