The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon has begun in which teams design and builder energy-efficient homes powered by the sun. According to the site:

The winning team produces a house that:

• Is affordable, attractive, and easy to live in
• Maintains comfortable and healthy indoor environmental conditions
• Supplies energy to household appliances for cooking, cleaning, and entertainment
• Provides adequate hot water
• Produces as much or more energy than it consumes.

Here are some teams Facebook pages:

• Middlebury College Team with "Insite" house (Middlebury, VT). Pictures: https://www.facebook.com/middsd13?fref=ts
• UNC Charlotte - The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (Charlotte, NC). Pictures: https://www.facebook.com/UNCCSolarDecathlon2013 
• Norwich University with "Delta-T-90" House (Northfield, VT). Pictures:  https://www.facebook.com/NUSD2013?fref= 
  

The government shutdown will not and has not impacted the Solar Decathlon, at least that is some good news, especially to the teams involved. It would have been quite a letdown if they pulled the plug on these students after all their hard work.

The winning teams have been chosen:

GBA Solar Decathlon 2013

Some pretty cool and innovative designs and technology being used. A few of the top winning teams used uPVC windows from Intus. Hopefully this inspires others to design and build energy efficient homes.