Prince of Asturias with the Architecture students from CEU-UCH University, who designed the SML house.

Minister of Housing, Beatriz Corredor and the Major of Madrid, Alberto Ruiz Gallardon, have inaugurated the Solar Village that hosts the 17 houses involved in the Solar Decathlon Europe competition, designed by universities all around the world. Among them, it participates in this competition the SML House, designed by architecture students of the CEU Cardenal Herrera University of Valencia, one of the four spanish universities selected to participate in this edition of the competition. The Prince of Asturias visited the Solar Village this afternoon in order to learn about the new technologies in energy efficiency of these houses, which are supplied by the exclusive use of solar energy.

The house designed by the CEU Cardenal Herrera University, the SML House, is noted for the architectural integration of photovoltaic solar panels on the South facade of the building and its technological roof, in which there is combined an hybrid system of solar-thermal and photovoltaic collectors that overlap in the same plane, and are hidden or exposed according to the energy needs of the moment, allowing the ideal balance between both systems.

In order to minimize the energy consumption, the SML House incorporates a cooling system fed by solar energy (solar cooling) through its "refreshing roof": cold water pipes through the roof of the house cool the warm the air. Cold water is generated in an absorption machine fed by water at 90º C from the thermal solar collector system of the house, so it’s achieved the house conditioning without electric power consumption.
 
With the same purpose the students of the CEU Cardenal Herrera University have designed a thermal oven, zero-power consumption linked to solar cooling system of the house. In addition, the natural lighting of the house and the use of led lamps can reduce by 20% the energy consumption required in any home for this purpose. Moreover, the SML House is equipped with bi-thermal appliances that save energy heating the water by using the thermal system from the thermo-solar collectors.

At user choice

The SML House is a modular house: prefabricated modules can be configured and incorporated into the house by user’s request. That’s the reason of the name of the house, SML, which correspond to the letters used for the clothing size (Small, Medium and Large). The number of modules can be selected according to the spaces that need its user: family home, second home, workplace, etc.

The user can also choose the location of the courtyard of the house and the furniture integrated inside each module: kitchen, bathroom, living-room, bedroom, etc. The furniture of the SML House placed in the Solar Decathlon Europe has been designed by prominent students of the CEU Cardenal Herrera University, Hector Serrano, Luis Eslava, Marcelo Alegre and Victor Pinto + Javier Esteve.

Competition

The SML House will be exhibited for ten days in the Manzanares riverside, along with the other 16 universities in the Solar Village, which will be visited by Prince of Asturias this afternoon. Until June 27th the jury will evaluate the efficiency and architectural features of houses in each of the ten sections that make up this "decathlon". The winner house will be announced next June 27th.

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