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Title
Build Challenge
Subtitle
2002
Location
Washington, D.C.
Date Start
September 23
Date End
 - October 5, 2002

Auburn University: Enjoying Campus Life

Photo of Auburn University's solar-powered house on the National Mall at Solar Decathlon 2002. Enlarge image

The Auburn house is loosely based on a traditional southern design called the dogtrot, which incorporates a central porch that divides the house into two halves. Credit: Warren Gretz/U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon

Who: Auburn University
What: Solar house
Where
Auburn University
Auburn, AL 36849
Map This House

Public tours: See the team's website.

After the 2002 Solar Decathlon, Auburn University’s house returned to campus. It currently resides on the university’s Agricultural Campus, where it has been landscaped. For several years, it served as an office space and was open for educational tours.

The house currently hosts the Auburn University Amateur Radio Club, or KR4Y. The station made radio history in July 2007 when it became the world’s first amateur station to operate its entire facility on solar energy, including radios, lights, air conditioning, a complete kitchen, and laundry.

Auburn’s Solar house placed third overall in the 2002 Solar Decathlon competition. Part of their success was due to the use of groundbreaking technologies such as “solar megaphones,” skylights filled with prisms that amplify daylighting. You can visit K4RY and Auburn’s Solar House at the southern edge of Auburn University’s campus.