ULL solar home project completed

• By MARSHA SILLS
• Advocate Acadiana bureau
• Published: Sep 18, 2009 - Page: 1BA

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LAFAYETTE —  It was quite a house warming party.

A band played.

Champagne bottles popped.

It was the culmination of two years’ work by more than 200 University of Louisiana at Lafayette students, faculty members and Acadiana residents to build BeauSoleil, an 800-square-foot, solar-powered home that will represent the university on the National Mall next month.

There, in Washington, D.C., BeauSoleil will be one of 20 on display on the mall as part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s solar-powered home design challenge, called the Solar Decathlon.

On Thursday, the BeauSoleil team invited all to share in the accomplishment before dismantling the home and loading it up for transport.

“It’s really been an incredible journey,” said Gretchen Lacombe-Vanicor, a ULL architecture and design graduate student who served as the team’s project manager.

The team is one of 20 collegiate design teams from across the globe selected to compete in the event, which fosters the research and design of affordable and energy-efficient solar-powered homes.

Teams of faculty and students played a role in perfecting the design and the finished product, said Geoff Gjertson, ULL associate professor of architecture and the faculty team coordinator.

More than 500 partners supported the projects through donations of $4 to $100,000 and through donating tools and professional help, he said.

“The BeauSoleil home belongs to Louisiana,” Gjertson said.

The Rev. Chester Arceneaux, pastor of Our Lady of Wisdom Catholic Church on the ULL campus, blessed the house.

Arceneaux is the team’s secret weapon, Gjertson joked.