Solar Decathlon 2007, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, is an international competition that brings together student teams from 20 universities across the United States, Europe, and Canada to compete in designing, building, and operating highly energy-efficient, completely solar-powered houses. Lawrence Tech's team is the only one chosen from Michigan.

The national importance accorded this project is perhaps best illustrated by the site where the homes were assembled and showcased: the historic National Mall in Washington, D.C. There, the houses and the sponsors' educational exhibits formed a "solar village" that over several weeks will was toured by hundreds of thousands of visitors. Contest rules required that each house generate enough energy from the sun to operate a household, a home-based business, and related transportation needs.

The Solar Decathlon was created to encourage young people to pursue careers in science and engineering and to acquaint college students studying science, engineering, and architecture with solar power and energy efficiency, thereby helping the U.S. maintain its competitive edge in technology.

Lawrence Tech's College of Architecture and Design students have swept the last two Michigan Zero Energy House competitions, and took top honors in the 2004 and 2005 ASHRAE international sustainable design competitions.

Lawrence Tech's AloeTerra team will compete against 19 other prestigious schools:

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
Cornell University, Ithica, NY
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA
Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury, NY
Team Montreal (Ecole de Technologie Superieure, Universite de Montreal, McGill University) Montreal, Canada
Technische Universitat Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany
Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH
University of Colorado, Boulder, CO (2005 Winner)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL
University of Maryland, College Park, MD
University of Missouri-Rolla, Rolla, MO
University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX


Video tour of the LTU House