MIT zero-energy house
MIT zero-energy house
A team of students from MIT and other local schools is just days away from shipping its zero-energy house to Washington DC to compete in the US Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon competition to build the most energy-efficient, self-sufficient off-grid house. I visited and blogged about the MIT house a couple of months ago and recently went back to check out their progress.
The rooftop solar panels were up.
The self-heating wall, made of basically plastic, water-filled blocks that absorb heat from the outside and release it into the house, was done as well.
The interior was on its way to being done. The flooring and ceiling surfaces are made of bamboo. The walls are made from wheat waste products and even the furniture was made of waste material from sorghum.
With NIH funding on the decline, funding from industry, such as the drug companies, may become more important. Mass High Tech recently had an article about how Merck, with its shiny new R&D facility a stone's throw away from Harvard Medical School, is funding research in six HMS labs on cancer and neurological diseases. The article quotes a Harvard official saying that the funding is for basic research.