Solar Decathlon

This past October, taking a walk on the Mall in Washington D.C. might have been more like taking a walk into the future. Twenty solar-powered homes were sprawled across the mall's west end, transforming it from a park into something that resembled a quirky housing development. The homes were part of the annual Solar Decathlon, a collegiate competition for engineering and architecture students who must design these energy efficient homes of the future from the ground up.