对于许多新西兰人来说，建立自己的家庭和环境之间的紧密联系不仅仅是事后的想法。虽然这部分是因为岛国是一个美丽的地方，但这也是因为新西兰气候通常是温和的和阳光明媚的。但是正如代表维多利亚大学的惠灵顿的太阳能十项全能团队所指出的那样博客发布在专门针对First Light的网站上，该团队的十项全能条目, photovoltaic (PV) systems are notably more expensive in New Zealand compared to those available in the rest of the developed world. The country has one advantage in the solar department, however: an average of 2,000 hours of sunshine each year. Although domestic hot water accounts for about a third of New Zealand’s residential energy use, only about 1.6% of homes in the country have solar hot water systems. Nevertheless, each year about 3,400 New Zealand homeowners purchase a new solar hot water system.

The Victoria University team hopes to shed light, as it were, on the practicality of PV power by incorporating it creatively into First Light, whose open central area is flanked by two large side buildings, each of which is shaded by a louvered canopy equipped with PV panels and solar hot water collectors.Where today is tomorrowFirst Light takes its name not only from solar energy’s obvious role in the Decathlon, but also from the fact that New Zealand is just west of the International Date Line, which puts it among the locations on the planet that see the first light of each new calendar day – 17 to 20 hours ahead of the four time zones in the continental United States.

维多利亚团队说，从功能上讲，First Light的一部分是受“猕猴桃巴赫”的启发，这是一个典型的新西兰度假屋，其规模适中和约会旨在使建筑物相对简单。凭借其玻璃封闭的中央区域（连接两侧建筑物），包括厨房区域，并向外部打开 - 第一灯也设计为方便且舒适地进行社交。Connecting inside and outside在国际建筑商节目的采访中，该团队的建筑表演专家之一本·贾格玛（Ben Jagersma）told Fine Homebuilding’s Justin Fink两座檐篷的侧翼建筑物是“我们的设计独有的，将您的眼睛带入中央空间，这是房屋的真正重要特征。”团队解释说：“巴赫的生活在外部，大甲板和露台上与内部一样多。”the First Light website. “Our house brings these ideals of bach life into a contemporary setting, providing a permanent residence where recreation and social activities are united with environmentally sound technologies.” The 813-sq.-ft. house, whose flat roofs underneath the canopies serve as the main sites for water collection, is being built with material from all over New Zealand, including a lot of indigenous wood (an abundant resource in that country). Construction on the project began in January – a good time to build, since it is summer in the Southern Hemisphere. For transport to the United States, Jagersma said, the two side buildings are designed to break up into a total of five modules, while the central section of the house will be flat-packed, assembled in an off-site location once it’s in the U.S., then transported to the competition site and installed between the side buildings. Asked if he thought the project would meet the $250,000 construction-cost target set for the “affordability” contest, one of 10 Decathlon competitions, Jagersma replied that his team, which includes about 40 students, believes it is “an achievable mark,” adding: “We’ve got a tradition of building quite cheaply in New Zealand.”

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For an overview of the Solar Decathlon teams, seeGBA’s 2011 Solar Decathlon Resource Guide

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