Innovative Building Material for the House Construction for Solar Decathlon Middle East 2018 Competition

Abstract

This experimental report describes the invention of a new type of block for the construction of a sustainable house for the Solar Decathlon Middle East 2018 Competition by the team SoLLite-Salalah from Dhofar University, Sultanate of Oman. The aim of the experiment was to create a material for exterior walls' construction that is environmentally friendly, light, easy to transport and assemble, resistant to heat transfer, and also with low manufacturing cost. The paper describes the project SoLLite-Salalah, the experiment itself and provides the results of the tests, which show that the sample block made by the team fulfils the requirements and can be used for the construction of the exterior walls of the house. This report also demonstrates that Solar Decathlon Competitions stimulate research and innovation and promote the idea of efficient housing by educating and training students.