If you love solar technology (and who doesn’t) then you’ll love the Solar Decathalon. Teams of college students from around the world compete to build solar-powered homes on the National Mall in Washington D.C. It’s a solar geek’s dream come true. Innovative design and the latest technologies combine to create beautiful, energy sipping architecture.

From http://www.solardecathlon.gov/:

This is the fifth Solar Decathlon, a ten day event featuring 20 teams of college students who have designed and built solar-powered homes. It’s an educational and promotional endeavor, designed both to stoke public interest in solar technology (which, despite recent growth, still accounts for less than 1 percent of U.S electricity production) and prepare American kids for their future jobs laboring in the great clean-energy factories. Previous decathlons were held on the National Mall, where crowds could marvel at the “solar village” of gee-whiz houses temporarily installed in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol.

The U.S. Department of Energy sponsors the event and has photos and video on their website here.

More photos from National Geographic here.