Virginia Tech's Lumenhaus Competes in Solar Decathlon 2009

This is very cool:

Twenty teams are competing in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2009, which takes place on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in October 2009.

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The Solar Decathlon is an international collegiate competition in which student teams compete to design, build, and operate highly energy-efficient, completely solar-powered houses. For the 2009 event, teams will be awarded $100,000 over two years to support the Solar Decathlon's research goal of reducing the cost of solar-powered homes and advancing solar technology.

One of the teams is from Virginia Tech, which has entered its "Lumenhaus":

House Highlights
*A responsive, pavilion design featuring natural light, which incorporates sliding north and south walls of glass and dimmable fluorescent lighting above a translucent ceiling membrane
*A cement slab floor, heated by an efficient geothermal heat loop and heat pumps, that provides radiant, evenly heated floors
*A PV system that includes "double hit" PV panels in a large 9-kW array to generate as much as 30% more electricity than the standard approach

There are lots of other amazing houses as well, but I've gotta root for the home team: go Virginia Tech! :)