Starting today on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., 19 teams of students from around the world will compete in the Solar Decathlon to show innovative, appealing, and livable solar houses. This year's competition, the fifth, encouraged teams to incorporate affordability in their projects for the first time.
Some projects, like CalTech's Chip2011, will make you rethink what an energy-efficient house looks like, while others, like Purdue University's INhome, strive to make solar living seem as simple and all-American as apple pie. The Solar Village (pictured above) will be open to visitors starting on Friday, but if you can't make it to D.C., we've collected some of the most exciting entries here.
Photo courtesy of Stefano Paltera/U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon
The University of Calgary's team partnered with local native communities and took inspiration for their house from tepees. The house is called the Technological Residence, Traditional Living, or TRTL. That's pronounced "turtle" — judge for yourself if it lives up to that name.
Photo courtesy of Stefano Paltera/U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon
Designed by students at the City College of New York, the Solar Roofpod is intended to sit on a rooftop in New York City.
The idea is to make better use of one of the city's most underused resources, its rooftop space. Ambitious New Yorkers spend their time trying to scramble upward to a penthouse with a view; this house could take them one floor higher. The team calls it a "penthouse with a purpose" and envisions pairing the home with a green roof: the smart, green, urban version of a grassy suburban lawn.
Photo courtesy of Stefano Paltera/U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon
Some of the solar houses pair design lessons from traditional American architecture with green technology. Middlebury's Self-Reliance house uses "the best features of the New England farmhouse" and incorporates local materials like Vermont slate and wood from the college's forest. But it also has insulation made from recycled paper and an interior green wall that residents can use to grow vegetables.
Photo courtesy of Middlebury College
Other teams pushed for a more modern concept. Team Belgium says its modular E-cube can be erected in a few days.
Photo courtesy of Team Belgium: University of Ghent
The teams were challenged to incorporate green living throughout the houses' designs. The University of Tennessee added simple bike storage and an EV charging station to its Living Light House.
Photo courtesy of Carol Anna/U.S. Department of Energy
Despite the striking exteriors and innovative efficiency systems built into the houses' heating and cooling systems, inside, they mostly look like perfectly, normal pleasant places to live.
Photo courtesy of Stefano Paltera/U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/good/lbvp/~3/nWdpaR2X8N0/
KINGSTON TECHNOLOGY COMPANY KEY JDS UNIPHASE JDA SOFTWARE GROUP JACK HENRY and ASSOCIATES IXYS
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