It might be a small community college, but it has big bragging rights today. Crowder College of Neosho built the sixth best solar-powered home in a national competition that concluded this past weekend in Washington. Crowder was the only community college in the 2002 Solar Decathlon, competing against 13 universities. The University of Missouri-Rolla placed ninth. The competition posed great challenges: build a 500 square foot home that must run on sun power, including a home-based business and a car, on the National Mall. The teams were judged on how efficiently their houses used solar energy for heating, cooling, supplying hot water, lighting, running appliances and charging an electric car.
