At-risk youth win international sustainability competition with off-grid home

A judge in the Monterey County Superior Court in California was tired of seeing young people pass through his courtroom on their way to prison. So, he founded the Rancho Cielo school in 2000 to offer general education and curriculum in a range of trades for marginalized youth. The school in Salinas, California, hosts programs in culinary arts, auto repair and construction and has changed the lives of many at-risk youth in the area.

Fast forward 23 years, and a group of Rancho Cielo high school students from the Construction & Sustainable Design Academy (CSDA) have accomplished a legacy-making feat, winning the Orange County Sustainability Decathlon, scoring higher marks than 13 other teams from universities around the globe. In 2023, they built a solar + storage-powered off-grid home called Nexus 01, and with it dominated the competition and learned about their personal potential.

Making the future home with traditional materials

Thomas Rettenwender, founder and principal of Ecologic Architects, a former educator and current board member for Rancho Cielo, had heard about the decathlon and pitched the idea of the school entering the competition.

“The timing was good, because we were coming out of the pandemic and there was this thirst for a restart,” he said. “We had all this pent-up energy to get caught up, to make a difference.”

Decathlon competitors were tasked with building homes powered by solar that would be both environmentally friendly and provide solutions to California’s housing crisis. Each entry was judged in 10 different criteria covering construction, design, sustainability and overall messaging.

Rettenwender designed a modular two-story home meant to host solar panels, energy storage and many other sustainable implements, like air filtration units. CSDA students were familiar with building smaller projects, like portable toilets and tractor sheds, but they hadn’t tackled a construction project with the scope of Nexus 01.

“These are kids from the streets, and when we started the project, some of them didn’t know how to pick up a hammer — literally,” said Pete Scudder, president of Scudder Solar Energy Systems and Scudder Roofing, who oversaw roofing and solar installation on the project.

Scudder said it took some time for the kids to get comfortable with building a project of this scale. They were divided into groups and assigned to a respective trade to handle electrical and solar installation, roofing, plumbing, carpentry, tilework, as well as managing roles.

“We sat down, and we said we’re going to build a house out of the traditional materials that our students need to understand how to assemble to get a job in today’s market,” said Bill Hayward, CEO of Hayward Lumber and construction advisor on Nexus 01. “We thought through these things in a way that we thought the industry could replicate tomorrow, because we need affordable housing tomorrow.”

The frame of this 850-ft2 house is Douglas fir lumber, and the exterior is wrapped in fire-resistant cork, which negates the need for insulation and siding. Its envelope is designed to be airtight and uses filtration units to cycle fresh air into the building every two hours. Solar powers all electric appliances and utilities.

The house is designed to optimize solar generation by departing from a traditional gabled profile, instead placing both sections of the roof on a single pitch facing south. A 7.4-kW solar array is powered by Maxeon 3 panels with Enphase IQ8A microinverters charging two Enphase Encharge 10 batteries, donated by Scudder Solar.

“If you retrofit solar on a house, the roof isn’t optimal. You just have to work with what you have,” Rettenwender said. “But if you design a house for solar exposure, then you have more opportunities.”

Students built the house over the course of a year on-site at Rancho Cielo. When fall 2023 approached, the building was disassembled and prepared to be rebuilt at OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa, a five-hour drive south from Salinas.

Competition time

Nexus 01 was hauled to the fairgrounds on four semitrucks. Once unloaded, Rancho Cielo had two weeks to reassemble the building and ensure everything was functioning correctly inside and out. They were the first of 14 competitors to arrive and needed every minute to rebuild. Scudder was on the phone with Enphase trying to commission the system, completing it as the OCSD judges walked up to the building.

As judging commenced and results were released, the students realized Nexus 01 was a contender. Their building placed in eight of 10 categories, with five first-place wins and the designation of overall winner of the competition. They later presented Nexus 01 in an auditorium to a crowd of 200 people.

“These kids wouldn’t even look me in the eye in the beginning two years ago. Now they’re standing up straight up there,” Scudder said. “It transformed their self-esteem and how they felt about themselves and how they felt about others, and they realized they can compete in the world market.”

Nexus 01 was a proof of concept. It proved that it was possible to build a sustainable home without needing space-age technology or nontraditional materials. Rancho Cielo and Ecologic Architects are now kickstarting Nexus Housing, an organization that will continue to build homes in the style of the Nexus 01 prototype with the continued help of students and advisors.

The project also proved the capability of young minds when given the resources they need. From this experience, Scudder hired five of the students who worked on the Nexus 01 project.

The house will soon be rebuilt back at Rancho Cielo as a permanent fixture. People visiting the school will have the chance to see the programs at work, eat a meal at the Drummond Culinary Academy and stay overnight in a sustainable home.

“When builders say it’s too hard to do, it’s like, really? Because high school kids can do it,” Hayward said.