The small village on the National Mall looks like something out of a science fiction story. Dozens of solar panels project from the rooftops of unusually shaped buildings, most of which have at least one face dominated by large glass windows or metal.
The structures are not displays in an Isaac Asimov convention; instead they are temporary homes competing in the Solar Decathlon, an intercollegiate contest designed to spur students to pursue careers in science and engineering, encourage the development of green technologies and raise public awareness of energy-efficiency issues.
Hundreds of undergraduates worked as long as two years to plan, design and build the solar-powered houses. Then they brought them to Washington for a week and a half of public exhibition and judging in 10 categories, such as comfort and how much energy they produce relative to how much they consume.
Most teams are from American schools, but groups from Spain, Germany and Canada are also competing in the decathlon, which is run by the Department of Energy.
Team California, which comprises students from Santa Clara University and the California College of the Arts, focused on building a practical house that did not skimp on comfort.
“We wanted to blend form and function,” project manager Allison Kopf said of the house. “We wanted to show that green living is not a compromise.”
Despite cloudy weather, 48 solar panels still produced 75 percent of the energy needed to run the house, Kopf said. On a sunny day, the house’s solar panels generate 150 percent of what is needed.
For the team from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the emphasis was “conserve, conserve, conserve,” said Ryan Abendroth, who worked on predicting the home’s energy use. The group’s house, which from the outside resembles a barn, has been certified as using 90 percent less energy than the average home.
The team accomplished that goal by heavily insulating the house and making it almost airtight, keeping warm air in and cold air out.
Decathlon director Richard King said that through Sunday, about 40,000 visitors had toured the homes.
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ahart@tribune.com
