Before there was a Solar Village on campus, there was a sole villager. Allison Arnn graduated in 2005 with an engineering management degree. A member of the university’s very first Solar House Design Team, Arnn spent her senior year living in the house the team designed and built for the 2002 Solar Decathlon, a U.S. Department of Energy-sponsored design competition. As the first occupant of an S&T student-built solar home, Arnn covered rent, water and sewage, but didn’t have to worry about an electric bill. “It is a welcome relief” to have one less bill to pay, she said. “And it is such a unique opportunity. How many college students can tell people they lived in a solar house while they attended school?”
Several students – and even faculty – have followed in Arnn’s footsteps by taking up solar living in S&T’s Solar Village, which now consists of four student-designed homes, and a “solar suburb” of sorts, the EcoVillage, which contains two solar homes. Both villages are equipped microgrids, where researchers can study the impact of living in a home fueled by alternative energy.
Share This Story
Spark a Memory?
Share your story! Fill out the form below to share your fondest memory or anecdote of S&T. If you'd prefer not typing, you can also share by phone at 833-646-3715 (833-Miner150).
Gwen (Ingram) and Chase Davis
Gwen (Ingram) and Chase Davis, who both earned their bachelor’s degree in ceramic engineering from S&T, met after participating in…
First impressions: UM System President Mun Choi
Mun Choi, who has served as president of the University of Missouri System since 2017...
He even has a spaceship named after him
In 1967, Farouk El-Baz, was appointed by NASA as secretary of lunar landing site selection and chairman of astronaut training…
Kala Longman and Maxwell Rose
Kala Longman and Maxwell Rose met in 2015 thanks to mutual campus interests and a similar friend group. But it…
Contributing to a Nobel Prize
Dr. Clyde Cowan, ChemE’40, was posthumously recognized for his part in research that earned the 1995 Nobel Prize in physics….
Savannah (Signaigo) and Nathan Leezer
Savannah (Signaigo) and Nathan Leezer met during Greek Week activities in September 2010 when Nathan, a first-year Interfraternity Council representative,…