Solar House opens July 10 at Children’s Museum

The Living Light Solar House, an ambassador for good design and energy efficiency while at the University of Tennessee, will open to the public on July 10 at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge.

The Children’s Museum will host an open house from 7-9 p.m. Thursday, inviting visitors to tour the solar-powered house and the museum. Admission will be free that evening, as the museum shows the community its newest exhibit, the house built by University of Tennessee students.

UT donated the solar house to the Children’s Museum, where it arrived May 17. The new exhibit invites children and families to experience sustainability in an energy-efficient house recognized for its architectural design.

“Young people who see the Living Light house talk about wanting a place of their own like that someday,” said Carroll Welch, Children’s Museum deputy director. “The house is very inspiring for children, and it will offer many great learning opportunities.”

The solar house is located beside the Kids Go Green! Environmental Center and Gardens at the museum, which is at 461 W. Outer Drive. Junior museum gardeners will have the opportunity to prepare food in the solar-powered kitchen after planting, tending, and harvesting produce from the garden.

The 750-square-foot, zero-energy structure was conceived and built by more than 200 UT students to enter in the 2011 U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon in Washington, D.C. The compact rectangular structure offers comfortable living spaces and plenty of light from floor-to-ceiling windows on the two long sides of the house.

Before coming to the museum, the Living Light house was a traveling exhibit and research laboratory based at UT Gardens. UT will continue to conduct research on the house at the museum.

The museum invited companies, organizations, and individuals that contributed to bringing the house to the museum to a reception and ribbon cutting in June, thanking them for the new exhibit. They are the University of Tennessee College of Architecture and Design, Powell Construction Company, The Rogers Group, City of Oak Ridge Community Development Department, Ridge Electric, Clinton Rental Equipment Inc., Clinton Highway Wrecker Service, Blaine Construction, Lackey and Associates, Fuhrman Landscape Company, AT&T, Comcast, Oak Ridge Police Department, Knox County Sheriff’s Department, Barnhart Crane and Rigging, Rob Welton Photography, Aries Energy, and Willow Ridge Garden Center.

Individuals who made contributions for the solar house move are Andrew McCullough, John and Frances Drake, Pat Imperato, Rebecca Rupp, David and Cande Seay, Fred and Sandra Barry, Tracy Beckendorf-Edou, Jim and Rhonda Bogard, Larry Burkholder, and Bill and Carroll Welch.