The 4D Home allows a homeowner to move walls and create a more open or private space as desired. It’s also incredibly energy efficient. The Massachusetts College of Art and Design and the University of Massachusetts at...
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The Passive and Adaptable Solar 4D Home
An Efficient Off-Grid Solar Electricity System
The freedoms of living off-the-grid can be rewarding as well as comfortable. This article focuses on the electrical and active solar systems that augment the efficiency of the previous post that featured the design of the passive...
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An Optimally Efficient Off-Grid Passive and Active Solar Home
This off-grid, owner-designed and built house is one of the most impressive passive and active solar combinations I’ve seen. Located at an elevation of 9,000 feet in the Colorado mountains, on a windy, snowy January day, after...
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A Poetic Net-Zero Solar Home for Hurricane Season
One of the most poetic entries in the 2011 Solar Decathlon, Florida International University created the perFORMance House. It also won 1st place in the Energy Balance category, producing as much or more energy than it needs....
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How A Pottery Water Wall Works
Could the Pottery Water Wall be the answer to energy efficient building within arid, desert environments? A recent passive solar submission came from an architect/designer based in Dubai, UAE. Moustafa Anwar Moustafa is looking to combine the...
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A Modular Solar Envelope House
Old Dominion University and Hampton University joined forces to build a Solar Decathlon house called Unit 6 for the 2011 competition. Their goal was to create a solar net-zero energy house that would contribute to the formation...
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Delectable Resourceful Efficiencies
Local, Scrumptious and Sustainable – Efficiency at Western State College’s Rare Air Cafe This article was reprinted with additions, due to the fabulous nature of the many implementations that continue to take place at the Rare Air...
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The Significance of the Winter Solstice
Happy Solstice! Today is December 21st, the day of the winter solstice. It is the shortest day of the year in terms of daylight as the sun ‘travels’ its lowest and shortest arc through the sky*. In...
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Modernist Living in the Net-Zero CHIP House
One of the most creative entries into the 2011 Solar Decathlon was the collaborative brainchild from the Southern California Institute of Architecture and the California Institute of Technology. They impressed Solar Decathlon visitors with an affordable, efficient,...
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Solar Decathlon Competition Homes
See the "Best of" the 2011 Solar Decathlon competition homes.
Arranged by final overall standing.
- University of Maryland
- Purdue University, Indiana
- Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
- Middlebury College, Vermont
- Ohio State
- So Cal Institute of Architecture and CalTech
- University of Illinois
- University of Tennessee
- Massachusetts College of Art & Design / University of Mass
- University of Calgary, Canada
- Florida International University
- Appalachian State University, North Carolina
- Parsons NS Stevens, NYC & NJ
- Old Dominion / Hampton University, Virginia
- Tongji University, China
- Ghent University, Belgium
- City College of New York
- Rutgers / New Jersey Institute of Technology
- Univ. of S. Florida / Florida State U / U of Central Florida / U of Florida