The ASU E3 house, a 500-square-foot building located on Rivers Street, will serve as a way of testing new technologies. Photo by Holt Menzies

by KERRY ZIMMERMAN
Intern News Reporter

Appalachian State University students in the building science and appropriate technology programs are constructing an energy efficient, self-sustaining mobile home between John E. Thomas Hall and Katherine Harper Hall.

The 500-square-foot structure, called the ASU E3 House, serves as a research and testing site for new technologies and modular and local construction techniques.

E3 stands for environment, economy and ecology.

Unique to common compact and transportable shelters, the house is adaptable to a variety of environmental factors and operates completely off the grid, assistant building science professor and project architect Chad Everhart said.

The house can accommodate up to five occupants.

The project, in the works for over two years, began construction in April. Design features include photovoltaic, or solar electric panels with battery storage, rainwater harvesting and Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) in the walls and the roof.

The panels were designed to optimize the assembly speed and strength of the structure.

“These were probably the most impressive part,” Everhart said.

Students will also install an electric composting toilet, replacing a typical home’s need for a septic tank.

“And you wouldn’t need to be hooked up to a generator because you’re harvesting energy from the sun to run your home,” Nicholas R. Hurst, project manager and industrial technology graduate student said.

The house was originally intended as a response to the Federal Emergency Management Agency trailers used for relief after Hurricane Katrina, Everhart said.

“The idea was that we made something that could go just about anywhere and not have any problems,” he said.

Everhart said with a hurricane, it could be weeks before any public amenities become available.

“After [Katrina], we saw people were living in these disgusting trailers...that were really run down,” Everhart said. “We just felt like our department could come up with a new way to do this.”

Materials in many of the FEMA trailers contain formaldehyde, a noxious gas known to cause detrimental human health affects, according to a revised Health Consultation conducted by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.

“When you’re living in them, you’re breathing that in,” Hurst said. “We’re trying to create an alternative that would have healthier building materials.”

Hurst is an example of the large role students have played in the project.

“It’s been completely student built, which is really exciting,” Everhart said.

Various companies, including Better Building Products LLC and Huber Engineered Woods, donated all building materials. The only funding the project received was used to pay the student builders.

Everhart said they may finish construction by the end of the year, but the date remains tentative.

“We still have to raise money and get donations,” he said.

They are planning on installing a kiosk in front of the house as an educational tool.

“I hope it brings a lot of public awareness about these types of technologies,” Everhart said.

To Hurst, the project has helped guide the future of technology and construction research in a positive direction.

“It represents progress in healthy living, as well as in building science and energy production,” Hurst said.

For more information, visit tec.appstate.edu/building/e3house/index.html.

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