The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011 is an international competition held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., for interdisciplinary student/faculty teams to design and build solar-powered, energy-efficient homes. This year, Team Living Light of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is one of just 20 competitors selected to participate in this prestigious event. In less than two years the teams will compete against each other to design and build a home that will be judged for its excellence in ten categories: architecture, market appeal, communications, engineering, affordability, comfort zone, hot water, appliances, home entertainment and energy balance. Each category is worth about 100 points. The winning team produces a house that: is affordable, attractive, and easy to live in; maintains comfortable and healthy indoor environmental conditions; supplies energy to household appliances for cooking, cleaning, and entertainment; provides adequate hot water; and produces as much or more energy than it consumes.

Read the full case study here: [http://www.aiga.org/case-study-living-light-home/]