photovoltaic cells

We posted about the Solar Decathlon last week, and now we're back with the winners (which were just announced at 2pm EST)!

So, with no further adieu -- first place goes to: Germany's own Technische Universität Darmstadt!

The team scored big by developing working relationships with other German companies, such as Bosch, and integrating those technologies into their solar experiment. The house will now return to Germany where it will serve as a solar power plant as part of the university's "Solare Lichtwiese" (or, Solar Campus project).

Read all about the house here.

Meanwhile, second place went to the University of Maryland, and third to Santa Clara University.

Read up on all the amazing entries at the 2007 Solar Decathlon web site and view photos of all the homes here.

Image via Jim Tetro, Solar Decathlon

When we talk about green building and green living, we often talk about materials that we can buy or practices that we can adopt in our home -- and that's because we truly believe that every little bit helps and that every person who decides to green their home in a responsible way makes a difference.

We don't talk about legislation very much; however, just this morning we received an email from iPower (no it's not a Mac product; it's a renewable energy corporation ) about the Vote Solar Initiative.

Long story short, Vote Solar's goal is to bring solar energy into the mainstream through policy. They're currently, and rightfully, all riled up because there is a federal solar bill in the works. The goal of the bill is, ostensibly, to make solar power more affordable to more people by extending federal tax credits, and lifting the limits on current solar tax credits. And Vote Solar wants to make sure that Congress gets it right.

You can learn all about the Vote Solar Initiative here and in this piece written by Adam Browning, cofounder and executive director of Vote Solar, for Grist.

A Solar Decathlon -- while it might sound like some sort of torturous track and field event planned for the 2008 Summer Olympics (which is looking pretty green, too), it's really a green design-build competition that starts tomorrow on the mall in Washington, DC. Every two years student teams compete in The Solar Decathlon to see who can create the most energy efficient solar house.

While the event is primarily about good design and utilization of solar power, it's also about solar publicity. The homes are open for touring every day of the contest (except next Wed., the 17th). Here's the schedule of events.

As Inhabitat reported today, the second prize winners from 2005, Cornell's David Wax, Emile Chin-Dickey, Stephanie Horowitz, Benjamin Uyeda, and Jordan Goldman, actually launched their own green design firm following the success.

In other words, this contest leads to real world solar power implementation. So, mark your calendars: Winners from this year's contest will be announced on Oct. 19th at 2pm.

Want more info. on solar panels? Check out the Solar Panel video we recently posted.

Image via Kaye Evans-Lutterodt/Solar Decathlon

This is the true story of some strangers, picked to live in a zero-net house ... Sound familiar? No, this is not the Real World—it's not even MTV—it's mPowerHouse.

mPowerHouse, will be both an energy producing house and, eventually, a reality webcast series.

Fred and Neal Hightower, the father-son duo behind this project, are not necessarily your typical green builders. Neal describes himself as 30-year-old who builds big houses and drives a big truck; he is not, he claims, an "environmentalist."

He does, however, symbolize the exact demographic mPowerHouse is hoping to tap into: People who are a little turned off by the "e" word, but who want to do right by the environment regardless.

To top it off, at the end of the webcast series (which appears to be in production), one contestant will actually win the house.

Keep up with the goings on at mPowerHouse here.

image sxc.hu, alfonso diaz