From the news article: “Last week marked an exciting time in the completion of our Prototype Homes as three University of California, Berkeley graduate students visited to begin monitoring temperature, humidity and light in the first of our two Prototype Homes constructed using straw bale methods. The crew from Berkeley included [Katy Van Lieshout, Jeff Lee, Miho Kitagawa (Mechanical Engineering graduate students from UC Berkeley working with Prof. Alice Agogino)], who installed the monitoring equipment. The first round will last two weeks as the group gathers baseline data in the empty home. While traditional monitoring techniques were utilized, the students took things to another level with their own culturally-inspired monitoring design. In slide 1 [photo upper right] you’ll see what looks like an Abalone shell, but that’s no mollusk. With help from a 3D printer, the design was created by Katie and features a mini-solar cell to keep the unit powered. As stated before, the units will measure temperature, humidity and light within the house with the goal of analyzing the efficiency of the design. The group looks to return in November to look at the data and begin analysis before tenants are selected. We look forward to examining the results and seeing how the energy-saving methods utilized in construction translate to real-time benefits.”