Middlebury College Solar Decathlon Home

We are lucky to be in Middlebury, Vermont in the summers.  We are especially lucky this summer as we are able to witness an amazing happening...a team of 70 Middlebury College students working around the clock to design and build a solar house on campus that will travel to Washington D.C. in the fall for a huge international competition.  We are proud Middlebury alumni and we are following the progress closely.  We have written about this event in our summer newsletter.  In our newsletter we feature exemplary student work and helpful resources.  If you would like to receive several Cadwell Collaborative newsletters a year, you can sign up here. To learn more about the Solar Decathlon and the Middlebury College Solar Home visit their student designed and managed website and blog.  Every two years, the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon competition illuminates the National Mall with a working display of energy innovation in action.  One of the most ambitious and inspiring events in the country, it challenges 20 collegiate teams to demonstrate inventive, clean-energy solutions by building solar-powered houses that feature cost-effective, energy-efficient construction and incorporate energy-saving appliances and renewable energy systems.

The Solar Decathlon has grown into one of the most highly anticipated design competitions ever held.  Thousands of people visit the National Mall to see and experience the practical housing solutions developed by competing teams: real-world solutions that are available today.  To tour the Middlebury team's solar home and the other 19 entries, plan a trip to the National Mall in Washington D.C. between September 13-Oct 2.   Find out more about the competition by visiting the Solar Decathlon website.

Middlebury is the first ever liberal arts college to enter the U.S. Solar Decathlon alone.  By combining past paradigms with current technologies, they are designing and building a home that exemplifies a truly comprehensive view of sustainability...a New England farmhouse for the 21st century.  Students hold all leadership positions, and are assisted by two faculty advisors who specialize in architecture and construction.  Along with designing and building the home, the Middlebury team strives to spread the spirit of environmental innovation.  Their outreach mission is to engage people of all ages in interactive activities about green building, clean energy, and sustainability.  They hope that their project will inspire others to be as excited as they are about creatively confronting the environmental challenges of this generation. We recommend this news story featured on WCAX.

From Ligonchio, Italy

This week Louise is in Ligonchio, Italy attending an international conference for educators, The Hundred Languages in Dialogue with the Natural Environment.  Here is her report so far: We are high up in the Apennine Mountains, several hours south of Reggio Emilia.  The group is spread out because of the limited accommodations in this mountain area.  I am staying at 5000 feet on the border between the regions of Emilia Romagna and Tuscany in an inn called Carpe Diem.  Out of the 100 participants from 16 countries, there are ten of us at Carpe Diem from Singapore, Sydney and Perth, Australia, and the United States including Honolulu.  We have long, delicious dinners and discuss the day's work.  We are hosted by Vittorio and Serena, the nicest inn keepers any of us have ever met.  We live at the base of a gorgeous Apennine peak, Cavelbianco, which takes half an hour to climb for a spectacular 360 degree view.

This week we are focused on connections between the natural environment and what the Reggio Emilian educators call "the hundred languages," or all the ways that human beings discover, express and communicate ideas.  This is a very hands-on international experience!  It has been terrific to spend time at the Ozolo River studying flow and force and at the atelier for children called Wave to Wave at the Enel hydroelectric power plant, investigating magnets, electrical power and water power.  I was enchanted yesterday using graphic materials in the beech woods in Pradarena and in the meadows learning about sound.  Today in the meadows and woods we worked with a British choreographer in movement and dance.  Tomorrow, in another hamlet at an agriturismo center we will engage with herbs and cooking.

What a privilege to learn side by side our Italian friends who my family has known now for 20 years, Carlina Rinaldi, Vea Vecchi, Giovanni Piazza, Marina Mori and others during this brand new adventure for them and for all of the participants here.  What a marvel to share this experience with educators from all over the world.  What a hopeful way to spend a week of the summer, learning in such a stunning environment about ecoliteracy and aesthetics, renewable energy and creativity, multiple perspectives and poetics all through first hand experience.  To learn more about professional development experiences offered by Reggio Children visit their website.  To see a youtube video of the some of the week's experiences of the Reggio Children week in Ligonchio visit this site.

Best wishes to all from Ligonchio, Italy.