Envisioning the House of the Future

Great article on Tufts University's task to create a house of the future for the 2009 Solar Decathlon. This decathlon is a competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Renewable Energy Lab. Tufts University is not only working on a "green" home for the decathlon, but also has tasked themselves with making it affordable. To give you some perspective, for the 2007 Solar Decathlon a German university spent over $1.2 million on an 800 sq. ft. "green" home. Who can afford that? Some of the design techniques that they are going to utilize are biomimicry, cradle to cradle, and passive solar. All of the "green" homes created will be displayed on the Washington Mall in 2009.