This week Inhabitat shined a light on the future of high-tech architecture as we brought you 20 stunning sun-powered homes that are getting ready to battle it out in this year's Solar Decathlon - including Team New York's prefab Roof Pod, Canada's TRTL solar shell house, and China's Y Container home.
ENGADGET: Inhabitat's Week in Green: sun-powered homes, retro robots and a solar laptop chipset
They say, however, that one of the most important things you could do -- and I think I asked you about this in Shanghai a couple months ago -- about the White House actually putting, say, solar panels on the White House, or maybe getting a small wind turbine.
Los Angeles resident Nick Ray, who installed photovoltaic solar panels on his house, has seen power bills roll back dramatically.
One of the promises made by the President in his first term was to put solar on the White House.
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The professor is still hot about Ronald Reagan removing Jimmy Carter's solar panels on the White House roof.
Every single new house constructed should have solar panels on the roofs.
His parents had been hoping to install solar panels on their Long Island house, but their yard was too small and their roof wasn't suitable.
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He should come to the White House and talk to the solar energy company executive today who's added jobs.
The solar charging stations are big enough to house eight vehicles and charge four of them, according to the company.
So in 2010, Stephen Chu, Secretary of Energy, said that the DoE would organize it, but since then, very little has happened and the White House rooftop is still sans solar panels.
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Wouldn't it be neat if you could power a few gadgets around the house with some tastefully chosen, solar cell-embedded curtains?
Completed in 2011, the other end of the structure is a four-story, 4, 000-square-foot house with under-floor heating, solar panels, low-energy appliances and the latest in triple-glazed windows.
Visitors will get a glimpse into the home of the future in a Sharp smart house composed of proprietary see-through solar modules set up as a symbolic structure of the booth.
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Companies that stand to benefit from tougher curbs on emissions from coal-fired power plants, including utilities that have invested heavily in wind, solar power and nuclear, are pushing the White House not to weaken the rules.
For the spy with a yen to be green, the house has low utility bills courtesy of a passive solar design, low-E windows and solar-generated water heater.
The White House report notes that the Recovery Act is accelerating solar energy innovation by providing funding for greater solar energy deployment, manufacturing and scale-up, and catalyzing needed technological breakthroughs to create novel and more efficient technologies.
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Proposals for the house include four wings or 'hubs' covered in solar panels and a dramatic sweeping staircase inside.
Given the likely direction of the new GOP-dominated House of Representatives in Washington, massive federal subsidies for the solar and wind industries, as well as such boondoggles as high-speed rail, are likely to be scaled back significantly.
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This week Inhabitat reported live from the scene of the Solar Decathlon in Madrid as 17 stunning solar-powered houses competed for the title of the world's most energy-efficient prefabricated house.
ENGADGET: Inhabitat's Week in Green: a US team wins the Solar Decathlon!
We're also happy to see that several of our favorite solar houses from the show made it to the top ranks, including Germany's elegant IKAROS house, the ultra-efficient Armadillo Box, and Finland's beautiful wooden Luukku house.
ENGADGET: Inhabitat's Week in Green: a US team wins the Solar Decathlon!
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