The US may have lost in soccer over the weekend, but we pulled out an incredible victory in the European Solar Decathlon in Madrid! Virginia Tech's elegant shape-shifting Lumenhaus received the grand prize for the most efficient solar home after ten days of competition against 16 other brilliant homes. Over the course of ten different contests, the Lumenhaus steadily pulled ahead, earning a total of 811 points out of 10,000. It was a tough battle, and it's likely that the Lumenhaus' win in the Architecture competition pulled them through -- they barely beat out Germany's IKAROS house by one point!
If I were European, I\’d be pissed. It was supposed to be that the winner of the 2009 US competition would be allowed to compete again in Europe, but VT said they\’d only compete in ours if they could again in Europe, which means they had time to perfect etc etc, which is a really unfair advantage.
Bravo to the Lumenhaus! I was lucky enough to attend Solar Decathlon Europe, and Va Tech\\\’s entry definitely stood out. The students stayed focused throughout the competition and pressed on to win! Go Hokies!
[...] many green building strategies. Most notably, the home is totally net-zero and features a large pv system on the roof that supplies the majority of its year-round power needs. During the rainy season a [...]
[...] many green building strategies. Most notably, the home is totally net-zero and features a large pv system on the roof that supplies the majority of its year-round power needs. During the rainy season a [...]