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Sustainability is really a holistic thing. Having clean technology and clean air, it's
inherent to our survival.
Our current conventional sources of energy are finite and we are going to have to find
additional and new regenerative sources of energy.
The Solar Decathlon is a competition sponsored by the US Department of Energy and every two
years they have twenty universities get together and design and build solar powered homes that
are energy efficient, affordable and comfortable to live in.
Everything is LED. And we chose a couple different fixtures to highlight our ambient lighting,
our task lighting for cooking, things like that.
Our house is the Phoenix house. It's a disaster relief, permanent solution allowing you to
easily construct your house after a disaster.
The Harvest home is actually customized for a wounded veteran returning from combat. We've
designed it to be accessible from a wheelchair. We've also designed it to be able to help
steadily heal our occupant and also optimize the house at the same time.
DALE is unique in that it's the only house here that is able to move and this is all
to promote a California living and lifestyle, and take sustainability to the next level.
So we just started the contest today and it's really going to heat up at these teams vie
to see who's got the best house.
We keep hearing a little buzz but you know we like to stay positive and we think there
might not be too much competition.
Tonight, they're going to cook for their neighbors, invite students in to sit down at their table.
It's a competition but we're all one big family here.
My favorite part of the competition is actually the camaraderie. Everyone's really warm and
welcoming, even during construction. If we're missing tools, we ask them. If they need a
welder, we send a welder over there. Everyone wants to see each other pushed to the best
we can do.
We thought, how do we get energy to become a more central part of people's lives so it's
not just that they're sustainable homes, but they're sustainable people as well.
When we were really talking to the public, they were interested in you know purchasing
this house, you know, to live in and that was a great feeling.
These homes showcase that sustainable living is cool, it's comfy, it's convenient. It's
not sacrificial, it's not burdensome.
It's inspiring me because I see like so many new ideas I just think they're amazing.
What do I want to do when I grow up is I want to become an architect so I can build buildings.
The Solar Decathlon competition means an incredible amount for the clean energy future. Being
on this project from start to finish opens the door to a really great foundation to the
rest of my career.