McDonald Observatory adds solar-powered BLOOMhouse to its campus

It’s always fun to see futuristic home designs at conventions and expos, but it’s even cooler to see one actually graduate into a functional living/working environment. That’s what’s happened in the case of the University of Texas’ BLOOMhouse. The 550 square-foot home was initially designed for the 2007 Solar Decathlon — but it now serves proudly on the campus of one of the nation’s top star-gazing outposts — and home of the much beloved StarDate — the McDonald Observatory.

The BLOOMhouse, one of 20 entrants into 2007’s Solar Decathlon in Washington D.C., has been described by its designers as the ‘muscle car’ of solar

dwellings. That’s considering the BLOOMhouse’s rooftop array charges batteries faster than its occupants can consume potential — a slight design flaw, seeing as the grid in the remote Davis Mountains of west Texas isn’t prepared for uploading.

Gallery: 2007 Solar Decathlon

According to our friends at Treehugger, engineers have dealt with the overcharging problem by hooking it up to a neighboring house and even running all the appliances to keep the batteries from blowing up. That’s what I shout a powerhouse.

[via Treehugger]

[Source] Josh Loposer

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