ZEROW HOUSE makes first leg of 1,500-mile journey
Rice begins road trip for Solar Decathlon

BY JESSICA STARK
Rice News staff

Excitement was in the air Thursday — and so was ZEROW HOUSE, Rice’s entry in the U.S.
Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon — as the journey to the competition in Washington, D.C., got under way. Rice is one of
only 20 university-led teams — and the only team from Texas — to compete in the decathlon, which will be held on the National Mall
in Washington Oct. 9-18.

TOP: JEFF FITLOW | LEFT: DONI SOWARD

The 1,500-mile journey began shortly after 6 p.m., though the
house-moving process started 12 hours earlier. A 250-ton crane had to
be erected to move the house onto a flatbed truck, which drove the
house to a three-axle 18-wheeler stationed just outside campus. The
crane was reassembled at that site and lifted the house onto the
18-wheeler that is driving it to the nation’s capital. At approximately
14 feet by 50 feet, the house is the maximum allowable size for travel
on a highway.

To follow the progress of the ZEROW HOUSE team, visit their Web site at
http://solardecathlon.rice.edu/ or their Twitter page at
http://twitter.com/zerowhouse.