Virginia Tech Solar House Team Unwraps the 2009 House

Lumenhaus: Virginia Tech's 2009 solar house team last week moved its 800-square-foot entry in the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon, known as LUMENHAUS, from the College of Architecture and Urban Studies' Research + Demonstration Facility on Plantation Road to the Blacksburg Square shopping center on South Main Street.

LUMENHAUS is a zero-energy home that can be completely powered by the sun. Other sustainable features include the use of passive energy systems, radiant heating, and building materials that are from renewable and/or recyclable sources.

Moving LUMENHAUS to Blacksburg Square will allow the Solar Decathlon team to attach solar panels to the roof and put other finishing touches on it before its next stop, Washington D.C.

The house will be displayed outside the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. for most of September. In October, LUMENHAUS will be on the National Mall along with other entrants in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2009. And Virginia Tech is one of only two U.S. universities invited to compete in the first Solar Decathlon Europe, which will take place in Madrid in June 2010.

Watch video of the move (http://www.vimeo.com/5995091) or visit the Lumenhaus website (http://www.lumenhaus.com/) for more information on the house and the Solar Decathlon. The website has a video build-up that shows how the house is constructed from the inside out; detailed information about the technologies featured in the house; and a video experience of living in the house.

Video by Albert Raboteau and Gary Cope