Building The Next Solar Home

Every two years the Department of Energy holds the Solar Decathlon. Select universities are challenged to design and build a home that runs entirely on solar power.

Right now, teams of student architects, engineers and designers at 20 universities across the globe are preparing for this year’s competition. The homes are being built on the university campuses and in October they will be disassembled and transported to the National Mall in Washington, DC where they’ll be re-assembled and judged for the competition. These aren’t models, but real, livable homes, complete with furnishings and functional plumbing. And each home is completely solar powered.

We're joined by a dreamer, designer and competitor in this year’s solar decathlon competition. Chris Werner leads Cornell's decathlon team in Ithaca, New York. This will be Cornell’s third year in the competition and Chris’s second year on the team. And this year, Cornell is taking a new approach to the competition.

(Photo courtesy of Cornell University's solar decathlon team)