Renewable Energy Eruope

by Brit Liggett from http://inhabitat.com/ Tonji University Shanghai’s Bambu House at the European Solar Decathlon is a beautiful sun-powered abode inspired by nature. It has two elegant sloping roofs and is almost entirely constructed from bamboo. Its impressive solar array generates 9 kilowatts of electricity which powers its one bedroom, one living room layout. We love how the house combines traditional Chinese architecture with state of the art technology — it has temperature and humidity...Read Full Story

The Solar Decathlon Europe (SD Europe) 2010 was created through an agreement signed between the Government of Spain’s Ministry of Housing and the United States Government, who committed to organize a sustainable solar architecture competition in Europe. In October 2007, both governments signed an agreement (a Memorandum of Understanding) as part of the Solar City framework of the Solar Decathlon 2007. Nineteen top universities from around the world were selected to participate in the 2010...Read Full Story

The prefab homes of the future won't just be relatively cheap and easy to build on the fly--they'll also be ultra-sustainable. For evidence of what these homes will look like, we need only direct our attention toward this year's European Solar Decathlon, which asks teams to "clearly demonstrate that solar houses can be built without sacrificing energy efficiency or comfort, and that they can be both attractive and affordable." This year's winner of the 10-day competition was Virginia Tech's...Read Full Story

Team Finland from the Aalto University has recently completed a house that aims to be a zero-energy house with the lowest possible carbon footprint. Dubbed the “Luukku House”, this eco-friendly dwelling is the team’s entry into the first European Solar Decathlon. Designed for the cold and dark Finnish climate, the house incorporates Finland’s tradition of using wood as the building material. The passively heated Luukku House uses wood for insulation, cladding, interior floor, wall and...Read Full Story

“The University of Hawai’i Solar Decathlon team Executive Committee, which includes participating students and members from Honolulu Community College and UH Mānoa, met and discussed the many positive outcomes related to this competition. However, the committee decided that the timing and financial challenges were too large to risk further investment without the guaranteed delivery of the house at this year’s competition,” according to Dean Peter Crouch, College of Engineering, UH Mānoa. He...Read Full Story