Middlebury, Vermont - Driving through the Middlebury campus, you eventually come upon a building that sticks out slightly. It's relatively small, black, and has dozens of solar panels on top of it.
It's the Reliance Home, a result of a two-year project by 85 Middlebury College Students.
"No energy bills over the course of the year," is how Alex Jopek, the construction coordinator, describes it.
"We have a team of 85 students from 20 different majors," says Chester Lurme, the lead engineer.
It is for the Solar Decathlon. The Department of Energy gave 20 schools $100,00 each to build a solar home
"It's been a great learning experience for us as students," adds Jopek.
The Middlebury College students came up with this: A two-bedroom home with all your amenities; a fridge, stove, and television.
Thirty solar panels sit atop the roof, next to hot water tubes and above dozens of vegetables and plants surrounding the structure.
"This house is 995 square feet," says Middlebury senior Hilary Cunningham, who is also one of the designers. She adds, "The limit for the house is 1,000 square feet. So we wanted to use as much space as we could so the family could have space."
The windows take in more heat than they let out. The walls are filled with 11 inches of insulation.
"Instead of just throwing technology at the problem, we try and reduce our energy demand first by keeping all the heat in," explains Lurme.
"We're actually producing a lot more energy than we consume throughout the year. And that's saving a family about $2,000," says Kristoffer Williams, the lead fundraiser. He explains the panels generate about 8,000 KW per year, while the house uses about 6,500 KW.
The next step, as some students say is the hard step, is to take the house down, drive it to Washington, then re-build it for the week-long competition on the National Mall.
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