Photo of a modern-looking, U-shaped home with two stories. Glass walls and doors make up the first story, and the second story features windows covered in what appears to be wooden louvers.

This Solar Decathlon 2005 home, presented by Florida International University, was one of three 2005 Solar Decathlon teams that tied to win the Energy Balance competition, demonstrating the energy efficiency of their houses. Crowder College and University of Missouri-Rolla and Rolla Technical Institute were the other two winners in this category.
Credit: Chris Gunn

Solar Decathlon 2005

Find Out What Happened to the Houses After the Competition

Research conducted in Fall 2008 revealed the following about most of the Solar Decathlon 2005 competition houses:

California Polytechnic State University

Solar CalPoly is set up on the school campus, where it serves as an education and outreach tool. Long-term plans are to sell and move the house to its next function—whatever that may be.

Canadian Solar Decathlon

(Concordia University and Université de Montréal)

Located at Concordia University's Loyola campus, the house is used for research and demonstration of the technologies. Most of the house is in good working order and part of it is monitored and used in experiments and research. The house has had an important influence on more advanced research and demonstration projects that are conducted on campus.

Cornell University

The 2005 house was sold to a private owner and sited in Lansing, New York, where it is used as a guest house. The house is being monitored by NREL for the Solar Building Benchmarking Project.

Crowder College

The house is located on campus near the college's 2002 Solar Decathlon house and is being slightly remodeled. The electrical system is being rerun so that it will be tied in with the 2002 house. Electricity is being monitored at present, but water is not fully functional yet. Tours are being held occasionally and the compound was a highlight of the recent E-conference. Both houses are used in systems maintenance curriculum. Plans include using it as housing for guest visits.

Florida International University

Named "Engawa," the house has been renovated and is used as a living lab for student and community education.

New York Institute of Technology

Green Machine/Blue Space is permanently sited at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York. This house has become a residence and continues to be an alternative energy research facility and a showplace that is accessible to the public.

Pittsburgh Synergy

(Carnegie Mellon, University of Pittsburgh, and The Art Institute of Pittsburgh)

The house is being incorporated into the Remaking Cities Institute (RCI) at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Architecture. The RCI has been created to ensure responsible and sustainable changes are made to Pittsburgh's neighborhoods. The house is part of NREL's Solar Building Benchmarking Project.

Rhode Island School of Design

The house is to be erected at the Portsmouth Abbey School on the shore of Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island—a private co-educational secondary school with alternative energy facilities.

Universidad Politécnica de Madrid

The 2007 and 2005 Madrid houses are installed on campus and being monitored and analyzed by Ph.D. students. One house will participate in events of social awareness throughout Spain and the other will be an experimental prototype—a platform for the development of 14 research projects from the TISE Production and Investment Company.

Universidad de Puerto Rico

Erected on the Mayaguez Campus of the university, the house is used as a meeting center for the Engineering Department.

University of Colorado, Denver and Boulder

The university is in the planning process to donate the house to the GreenTown project in Greenburg, Kansas.

University of Maryland

The house is set up on the nonprofit Red Wiggler Farm in Damascus, Maryland, to provide housing for adults with developmental disabilities who are employed there.

University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

Set up as a demonstration and solar promotional home at Mountain View Builders in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, the house is being monitored for energy efficiency and energy generation.

University of Michigan

After extensive revamping, the house is within The University of Michigan Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum, where it is on display, monitored, and open to public as a living laboratory.

University of Missouri-Rolla and Rolla Technical Institute

The Student Design and Experiential Learning Center has a Solar Village in place that provides a home for three houses from the 2002, 2005, and 2007 Solar Decathlons. The houses provide student housing and serve as a data collection source to compare solar systems' performance. All three houses are part of NREL's Solar Building Benchmarking Project.