The Texas A&M Solar Decathlon competition team’s harrowing race to erect and test their solar-powered groHome on the Washington Mall last October will be featured prime time, 8 p.m. April 1 on the Sundance Channel series, “Big Ideas for a Small Planet.”
The show’s season premiere showcases the latest innovations in solar power with a behind-the-scenes look at the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon, where 20 universities from the U.S. and Europe competed to build the best fully functional solar home on the Washington Mall. The homes demonstrate the most cutting edge solar-powered appliances, lighting, and hot water systems.
"Big Ideas" follows the Aggie solar decathletes from the Texas A&M College of Architecture as they compete against teams from the University of Colorado, Cornell, Virginia Tech, and the European favorite, Madrid, for the crown.
The Aggie Solar home, which is currently being reconstructed for public viewing in the parking lot of the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum in College Station, earned the first place Student Choice Award from the American Institute of Architecture Students and the American Institute of Architects’ Committee on the Environment. Their groHome concept also took top honors in the Student Building Category of the Lifecycle Building Challenge at the 2007 West Coast Green Conference in San Francisco.
“Big Ideas for a Small Planet” is a 13-part series that presents the designers, products and processes at the forefront of a new emphasis on all things “green.”
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