This week we were thrilled to receive a note from Victoria Watson of Santa Clara University about the school's involvement with the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon—a competition in which 20 university teams design, build, test, and then ship an 800 square foot solar-powered home to the National Mall in Washington DC for the October competition. The 21-day event includes 10 contests judging the houses' aesthetics and performance. More info here.

Santa Clara University has collaborated with California College of the Arts to form "Team California" as they design and build what they're calling the "Refract House".

Other west-based participants include "Team Ontario/BC" (University of Waterloo / Ryerson University / Simon Fraser University) and The University of Arizona.

We hope to stay in touch with these teams as they develop their projects of sustainable innovation.