David George of Team Missouri tells us that Solar Decathlon officials have released the visitor head count of all twenty solar houses, and Show-Me Solar came out #1. All told MissourI hosted 21,402 guests!*
Maybe we were wrong about excruciating waiting lines at many of the homes. Usually the longest lines snake out of the winning houses in what we always figured was a popularity contest, but now we realize that our home was so open and spacious that we were able to "process" many more visitors than any of the other structures. The Miners and Tigers (Migers? Tiners?) posted students at several points throughout the home to answer questions about the energy systems, "green" materials, design philosophy, and interior decor.
You can call this a housing contest, but the hidden agenda really is public education, getting people to understand that we can support our (sometimes) ostentatious lifestyles in an energy-efficient way. In that category Missouri was the clear winner, edging Team Spain by about 80 pair of feet. There were something like 305,000 overall house visits, which works out to an average of 15,250 per house. Missouri beat the median by better than a third!
*This informal award harkens back to the inaugural decathlon when Home Depot cited the Miners for the "Best Customer Service". HD lauded S&T for the enthusiastic and well-organized way they hosted public tours. Led by the indomitable Allison Arnn (now Allison Casem), the first solar house team fanned out along the line of visitors to describe the home's design philosophy, keep the guests entertained, and otherwise talk themselves hoarse while making the wait seem short.
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