“The Solar Decathlon is an international competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy in partnership with its National Renewable Energy Laboratory. For the 2005 Solar Decathlon, 19 colleges and universities from around the world compete to design, build, and operate a solar-powered house.
On September 29, 2005, the Virginia Tech Solar Decathlon team transported its house to the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The team will competed against 18 other teams in 10 contests over the course of 10 days. The contests range from architecture to heating and cooling, to power lighting and appliances.”

Three years ago I traveled to Washington, D.C to view the 2002 VT solar house. When I arrived, I was astonished to find some very innovative architecture integrated exceptionally well with cutting edge solar technology. I knew then I wanted to be a part of the next competition. Three years later, I was able to fulfill that dream, and work on the 2005 Solar Decathlon house. This project has greatly impacted my student career; I consider it the single most significant project I have had the opportunity to be involved in. I soon became a construction leader on the project and managed many smaller teams during the physical construction of the house. I was also the lead on interior design, specifically in the bathroom, kitchen, and home office areas.

My responsibilities included leading of the project management team, coordinating construction, funding, and materials acquisition. I worked full time on this project designing and hands on building of the house for almost a year.

a quick overview of the house here

please feel free to check out the VT solar website (created by my friend and co worker, Brett Moss) further by clicking here