The 2009 Solar Decathlon, hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy, is a competition “in which 20 teams of university students design, build, and operate the most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered house.”
In 2007, a team of engineering students from Santa Clara University (SCU) competed in the Solar Decathlon. Their home impressed the judges but was not “pretty” enough to win the title, it placed third.
This year the team from SCU has been chosen to compete again. This time they are teaming up with design students from the California College of the Arts in San Francisco (CCA), to make sure the ‘Refract House’ is as stunning as it is energy-efficient.
Students Ross Ruecker and Dan Ruffoni, from the CA Zeta Chapter, are working on the project along with faculty adviser, Tim Hight (CA Z ’72), chair of SCU’s mechanical engineering department. Read article
The Official Blog of Tau Beta Pi 
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