From concept to reality, Cal State Fullerton students were given the opportunity to see their visions for sustainable design take shape as nearly 75 Titans represented the university last month at the Orange County Sustainability Decathlon hosted by the OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa.
The first of its kind locally, OCSD challenged local university teams to develop innovative design ideas and energy-efficient housing solutions that support California’s goal of becoming “100% reliant on renewable energy by 2045.” With the belief that “education is the key to addressing climate change,” the competition allowed students to showcase their market-ready concepts for the public to tour over the two-weekend event.
As one of the 14 participating schools (10 competitive and four exhibitors), CSUF’s team kicked off the process more than a year ago with Phoolendra Mishra, CSUF professor and chair of the university’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, as its faculty adviser. The project, which was conducted outside of standard coursework, brought together a wide range of majors, including engineering, arts, computer science, biology and business marketing. The students began by putting their heads together to develop unique sustainable solutions that could be implemented in the built environment.
“The process was wide open, so anybody could bring in their ideas,” Mishra said. “The only goal was to identify the problems and come up with sustainable solutions. And then we worked together to say, OK, let’s move ahead with this one.”
The team explored solutions for design and construction methods that reduced energy consumption such as wall membrane and insulation, roof design and ventilation, thermal moisture and soundproofing, and water conservation.
While the Titan team did not participate in the full decathlon competition this year, the CSUF students did construct housing models that were featured in the Exhibition portion of the event. Their exhibit consisted of two structures, constructed side by side — one that demonstrated current California building codes and another that showcased more sustainable approaches. The team built the structures in such a way as to keep their innovative solutions visible to the public.
“We kept it incomplete, meaning you can see inside the house,” Mishra said. “You can see how insulation is done, how our HVAC system is designed … everything was open so people can walk through, and they can see and understand what we are trying to present.”
CSUF senior civil engineering major Daniel Santa Maria was the team lead for the insulation portion of the building process. He and his teammates developed a double-wall construction assembly that reduces thermal bridging, essentially keeping heat out of the structure.
“The biggest problems that you see in standard housing (construction) are that insulation is there, but there are little pockets here and there where heat can slip through,” Santa Maria said. “So to solve that, we decided to emphasize our insulation envelope so that all the way around the house there was consistent insulation.
Isai Jimenez, who is also a senior majoring in civil engineering, worked on the team that was in charge of creating the building envelope, with an emphasis on keeping air and moisture out using a “smart membrane.”
“The idea was to protect the insulation and protect the structure from water damage and air intrusion,” Jimenez said. “We used a membrane … an air retarder and vapor retarder. It separates air from outside and inside, and it also doesn’t allow water vapor to penetrate or diffuse through it all.”
Both Jimenez and Santa Maria were hands-on and worked on the construction phase of the project, building the components that showcased the teams’ solutions. Additionally, they and several other Titans were on hand during the event to walk visitors through the exhibits and explain their design concepts. The experience brought sustainable practices to the forefront of learning for the students.
“I think for this project specifically, it opened up my eyes, especially for why you would want to use sustainable materials,” Santa Maria said. “It’s something that’s simple that could be accessible to people currently and that can be repeated long term.”
The decathlon is held every other year, and with this experience under their belts, Mishra is confident CSUF will be able to enter a full decathlon team during the event’s next cycle. As a result of their participation, the Titans not only gained experience in teamwork and leadership but are now challenged to keep sustainability practices top of mind for future projects.
“Sustainability will be the priority for almost any home design and many of the problems that require solving in the future,” Mishra said. “It’s not just an idea, but they were able to build it. Keeping that in their mind and getting that experience … will make a difference in their careers as they move forward.”
