Tucson's SEED [pod]

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Solar Decathlon is an international competition for research and development of green building technologies. Only 20 teams are involved and Tucson (via the University of Arizona) is one of them. We'll be part of the Solar Village that will be set up on the National Mall in Washington DC this October. The University of Arizona team is the first to represent the Southwest region in this high-level competition.

The UA’s entry in the DOE Solar Decathlon is called SEED [pod] – standing for Solar Energy Efficient Dwelling. Our team is designing, building..and will operate a fully-functional solar-powered home on the National Mall for the competition. About 20 students from the University’s Architecture & Landscape Architecture, Engineering, Agriculture and Business Management colleges and several faculty are involved.

The UA Seed [pod] entry is an 800-square-foot showcase of solar energy with so many features including a rotating roof, designed to allow its 8KW array of solar panels to be adjusted to make optimum use of the sun’s angle.

The team is encouraging individuals across Tucson to join the effort by contributing $24 – the cost of a postcard-sized area of pv cells for SEED [pod], which actually will use 72,000 square inches (8 KW) for its array. That's a small price to get involved in an important Tucson effort involving sustainability. Please check out the team's website. Congresswoman Giffords will tour the progess of the SEED [pod] this Friday, April 10, 2PM, on UA's campus. I hope she continues to build awareness for renewable energy and for putting Tucson on the map in terms of being a force in solar energy innovation, education and business.