A University professor is taking the initiative to reduce America’s oil addiction.Marwa Hassan, assistant professor in the Department of Construction Management and Industrial Engineering, is working on a design for a low cost solar-powered roofing system.Hassan said the purpose of this project is to provide buildings with a heating system independent of a power grid.”[The solar panel system] will completely eliminate the need for electricity for heating and hot water,” she said. “The only need to be on the grid is for electrical appliances.”The solar panels work by collecting heat from outside elements like the sun and warming up the internal fluid flowing through the system, she said.Hassan said she and her student researchers have been collecting data since Dec. 20 and have been monitoring the temperature of the fluid flowing through the system.”We are finding the system to have an efficiency of 75 to 80 percent,” she said. “This is really good, considering the previous modern design’s efficiency percentile was in the lower 70s.”Hassan said the idea for her project came about while working on her doctoral degree at Virginia Tech.”I was working with different designs to make low cost energy for buildings,” Hassan said. “This design was very low cost and produced great results.”Hassan said the panels will reduce the average household electricity bill by 20 to 25 percent.The project operates through a grant from the Fund for Innovation in Engineering Research, a new funding initiative with the College of Engineering.The $30,000 grant went toward buying equipment and hiring student workers.Jason Shih, architectural design professor specializing in energy research, said solar energy is highly efficient and can run a houseful of appliances on a normal, sunny day.”The only downfall to solar energy would be an extended period of cloudy weather,” Shih said. “I’ve lived in Louisiana for 30 years. It is rare to have more than a week of cloudy weather.”The amount of time a solar panel system can last without sun exposure depends on the efficiency of the panel and its storage capacity, Shih said.”It would be very efficient in southern states where there is a lot of solar-rich energy,” he said.Hassan said a five square foot panel can produce enough energy for a 2,400 square foot area.The design is low cost, easy to install and requires low maintenance, Hassan said, adding that she can easily see it incorporated into residential construction.Shih said it would take six to seven years before a solar energy system would save enough energy to pay for itself.
 
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