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Eleven-year-old Kristin O'Neill and 13-year-old Hunter Denton examined their pale blue-and-white house made of foil and craft sticks for one last time at Davila Middle School in Bryan on Friday.
"We picked the lightest colors because they absorb less heat and reflect more solar energy," said Hunter, a Big Sandy resident.
In just a few hours, judges would place the model homes under a heat lamp to determine which home maintained the coolest internal temperature.
"I was feeling a a little self-conscious when our house collapsed earlier this week, but now I'm really happy with it," said Kristin, a Jane Long Middle School student. "Who knows, we might win this." During testing, the pair's house topped out at 22.5 degrees Celsius, or 72.5 degrees Fahrenheit, the lowest internal temperature in the class.
About 36 middle-schoolers competed Friday as part of Camp Energy to see which team could construct the most energy-efficient home. The weeklong camp was designed to teach sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders about the importance of energy conservation and the use of alternative fuels. The event was sponsored by Brazos Valley Affordable Housing, the city of Bryan, BTU, Texas A&M and Energy Systems Lab, which is part of the Texas Engineering Experiment Station.
Activities included field trips to the biofuels facilities and space research lab at A&M, Texas A&M's architecture and nuclear engineering schools and BTU's Dansby Power Plant.
The students were required to build a windmill and a solar car, but most said building the house was their favorite activity.
Each group was given a budget and could choose materials from a designated list. The items represented actual building materials with realistic prices.
"I learned a lot about insulating houses," said Rose Barrentine of Stephen F. Austin Middle School, adding that she was not pleased with her $105,000 budget. "It was awful; I got the lowest budget. We had to draw our budgets from a hat, so it was unfair, just like in real life."
Don Gillman, an assistant research engineer at Energy System Lab, said it was vital for students to learn about energy conservation at a young age so that when they get older, they "will be naturally more energy-aware."
Debbie Richards, who coordinated the first-year camp, said it hadn't been decided whether Energy Camp would return next year, but it's possible.
Kristin and Hunter won first place in the home-temperature contest, earning gift cards to Premiere Cinemas.
