MONTPELIER — Vermont’s Norwich University and Middlebury College are each sending student-built and designed solar-powered houses to an international competition in California where they’ll vie to be chosen as the structure that best combines energy production and efficiency.

The Solar Decathlon, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, challenges college teams every two years to design, build and operate solar-powered houses that are cost-effective, energy-efficient and attractive.

The finished structures are designed to cost no more than $250,000 to build, but that figure doesn’t include the design costs and other expenses. Norwich raised about $800,000 for the project from sponsors and alumni while Middlebury raised about $1.4 million.

“It’s something that really sucks you in in a really positive way,” said Cordelia Newbury, of New York City, who graduated from Middlebury this spring and spoke at a Tuesday event in the Statehouse lawn in Montpelier celebrating the Vermont teams.

Continue reading here