'Ole College Try

Mark McMenamin -- Interior Design, 10/1/2007 12:00:00 AM

At press time, the U.S. Department of Energy was to crown the winners of the Solar Decathlon, a biennial house-building event held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. This year's 20 academic teams—from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh to the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid—were judged in 10 categories, such as architecture, engineering, and livability. The entirely solar-powered prototypes are zero-energy, yield zero carbon, and must produce enough extra energy to power an electric car.