The Empowerhouse: An Affordable, Energy-Efficient Home Built By College Students

Recent winner of the Solar Decathlon’s affordability category, the Empowerhouse costs under $230,000 to construct and uses an estimated 90% less energy than the typical U.S. home.

If you’re in D.C. sightseeing this week, you might want to skip the traditional landmarks in favor of something more novel: 19 of the most cost-effective, energy-efficient, and downright attractive solar-powered houses http://www.solardecathlon.gov/gallery_houses.html in the country. Laid out on the National Mall, the homes are the product of the biennial Solar Decathlon, a competition organized by the Department of Energy that challenges college students to design and build liveable homes that don’t overtax the wallet or the planet’s resources.

Habitat for Humanity http://www.habitat.org

Most importantly for the students, parts of the design is already being used by Habitat in new units it is building in the D.C. area."We didn’t want to design just one house, but something that Habitat for Humanity http://www.habitat.org could replicate. So we used simple materials, and simple building methods that they would be able to use," says Steve Scribner, a project leader, and one of 200 students working on the project.

BY Ben Schiller

Full Story: http://www.fastcompany.com/1783585/college-students-build-affordable-energy-efficient-homes-in-the-capital-offering-potential-m

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Habitat for Humanity

Missoula, Montana:

Missoula, HFH of

PO Box 7181

Missoula, MT 59807-7181

Phone: (406) 549-8210

Fax: (406) 549-8215

Web site http://www.habitat.org/cd/app/external.aspx?url=www.habitatmsla.org

Email [email protected]