Team California goes for good looks

Two years ago, the team from Santa Clara University was considered a long shot but managed to get third place in the Solar Decathlon, beating out teams with bigger budgets and more experience in the competition. This year, Santa Clara University teamed with the California College of the Arts in San Francisco to improve on the architecture. Although the home is just 800 square feet, it's subdivided into four different sections and has a large deck to give it a bigger feel. Being from the Bay Area, they've pushed the high-tech to limit. They tied together different building-automation systems so that a person can control lighting, windows and shades, heating and cooling, and electrical appliances from a touch screen or an iPhone application.

October 7, 2009 4:47 PM PDT

Photo by: Martin LaMonica