UT Students Constructing Solar House in D.C.

A handful of UT students are in Washington, D.C. this week to compete in the Solar Decathlon, a U.S Department of Energy-funded challenge that pits 20 universities against one another to create the best solar-powered house.

UT's entry is the "BLOOMhouse," a sleek rectangular structure designed around five core principles: community, adaptability, harvest, endurance and delight. The house incorporates passive solar elements to take advantage of sunlight, and, true to form, includes a "Texas-size" kitchen. They're maintaining a blog during the competition.

Other participating universities in the international roster include Texas A&M, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Spain), and Technische Universität Darmstadt (Germany). Each has been asked to "design, build, and operate the most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered house."

The teams first assembled their solar houses back at home; this week, they're reconstructing them on the National Mall, which has been temporarily renamed the "solar village."

Once complete, each house will be judged on ten metrics — architecture, engineering, livability, lighting, cooking, comfort, power generation for space heating and cooling, water heating, and appliances. Afterwards, according to KVUE News, they'll be put up for sale to the public.