Team Toronto, comprising participants from Ryerson University, the University of Toronto, and Seneca College, is one of the finalists for the 2017 Solar Decathlon being held in Dezhou, China’s ‘Solar City’.
The event is an international competition where teams design and build functional solar homes. Team Toronto will be competing with similar groups from across the globe, all of whom will be showcasing cutting edge sustainable technologies and designs. The contest will attract hundreds of thousands of visitors and will be extensively covered in the media, both internationally and in the local areas of the competing teams.
The team's proposal is "a dense urban infill model that places residents in inner city communities that are already well served by existing service infrastructure, public transit, parks, schools, cultural and community amenities. Choosing sites within biking and walking distance to jobs, schools and public transit and that maintain affordability and sense of community, are integral to our vision."
As a by-product of ad-hoc development and previous traffic engineering, many of Toronto’s arterials that flow through these leafy neighbourhoods are flanked by viable, mixed-use and undervalued lots, the team said. “These are the locations we seek to reinvigorate and restore with our midrise, mid-density proposal.”
Scoring is based on measures in architecture, market appeal, engineering, communications, solar application, comfort zone, hot water, appliances, home entertainment and energy balance.