The local affiliate has been shooting footage for KVUE in Austin, tracking the progress of UT and A&M teams competing here at the Decathlon.

The footage is from the first day we arrived, and they have confused a few facts, but here is the video footage and story:
http://www.kvue.com/news/top/stories/100307kvuesolarchallenge-cb.1356dcb...

We have passed our first round of inspections! Foundation and decks are good to go, and in regards to our PV system the comment was made "You are the only team who has done it right." Big huge thanks to Dominic and Meridian Solar for that!

Day three was a big day for us here on the Mall. Our solar system is up and on line, the aluminum window boxes are up and bolted on, the decks have been raised to position, and our skin is almost installed. This list of accomplishments made a huge difference in our moral. Formally, it made a huge difference to our house, it looks like a home now. It also cleaned up our site tremendously not having these huge pieces laying around.

It was another busy day and big progress has been made. The house is official level and our photovoltaic are racks up with solar panels are installed. We were also able to get our heavy and fragile evacuated tubes for solar water heating up on the roof. I have to admit it was much easier lifting the racks with our forklift rather than a ladder. A few simple electrical connections tomorrow and we should have our solar system up and running. When the electric comes online tomorrow, we will be able to activate the air conditioning and plumbing systems.

10/4/07

After a long hot, very busy summer of building, the House finally arrives at its second home, right in front of the Capitol, on the National mall in Washington DC!

Our freight truck arrived first with our decks, electric car, solar panels, tools, supplies etc. We were happy to see that our Landscaping arrived in tact in the planters, and in good shape albeit thirsty. Luckily our rented forklift arrived at the same time so unloading could proceed.