Updating a story we last posted Aug. 13, 2013 regarding the U. S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon, the latest entry is the modular Phoenix House, based at the University of Louisville in Kentucky, and being developed jointly by students at the U of L, University of Kentucky, and Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. Kelsey King, Louisville graduate student and project manager of the modular home, commenting on the energy efficiency of the solar panels, says, “If you were hooked up to the grid, you would see that the meter spins backwards because you’d make more energy than you use.” The courier-journal.com says the house is designed to produce a 20 percent energy surplus. MHProNews has learned the project was prompted in part as a response to the need for disaster housing.

(Photo credit: Matt Frassica/courier-journal.com–modular Phoenix House )