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Title
Build Challenge
Subtitle
2007
Location
Washington, D.C.
Date Start
October 12
Date End
 - 20, 2007

Carnegie Mellon University: Looking Forward

Photo of Carnegie Mellon's Solar Decathlon 2007 house in its permanent location at Powdermill Nature Reserve. Enlarge image

TriPOD's greenscape thrives at Powdermill and provides natural insulation for the house.
(Courtesy of Powdermill Nature Reserve)

Who: Carnegie Mellon University
What: TriPOD
Where:
Powdermill Nature Reserve
1847 Route 381
Rector, PA 15677
Map This House

Public tours: For information about tour availability, call Powdermill Nature Reserve at 724-593-4070.

Solar Decathlon 2007

The Carnegie Mellon University team rebuilt TriPOD at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History's Powdermill Nature Reserve within 24 hours of leaving the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2007 in Washington, D.C.

Powdermill is a biological field station that offers 2,200 acres of living laboratory in Rector, Pennsylvania. In addition to serving as a meeting room and classroom for field studies at Powdermill, TriPOD also functions as an exhibit demonstrating sustainable building technologies.

In the future, Powdermill managers hope to monitor the house, which received a perfect score in the Solar Decathlon 2007 Energy Balance contest. The house will also accommodate visiting researchers at the field station. Both of these scenarios show that the future of TriPOD house is bright.