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.





hosts to a steady stream of wide-eyed strangers, all of whom asked the same questions over, and over, and over and...................so by 5:00 p.m. all you can repeat is, "yes, our beautiful cabinet doors are made of sorghum straw waste products." The upside of all the company is that so many folks commented on how open and spacious the Missouri house was compared to some of the other structures, and one perfectly charming little Italian woman said "oh, this is the house for me! The kitchen is just perfect, with lots of light. I just love it!"


neighbor Rice University craned their house directly over Missouri airspace onto another trailer. That was a great time to evacuate the site and slip out front for a quick crew photo with team advisors Dr. Katie Grantham (S&T), six-week-old Logan G, and Mizzou's Barbara Buffalo.


The Illini were the sleeper team this year, bringing an unassuming barn-like structure that would make expat Champaign/Urbanna grads feel right at home. Recycled barn siding formed a simple exterior that hid a well-designed home that took 1st place in Appliances, Hot Water and Home Entertainment, and narrowly lost to Germany in the all-important Net Metering contest. Germany (pictured at right) slipped by Illinois by winning the Net Metering contest by 12 points, just enough to move into the winner's circle by 11 points. How did our Hessian friends do so well in power production? Simple. They covered the entire skin of their building in solar panels, a slightly understated techno look that would be very popular in Europe, and a hugely powerful source of electricity.

When 5 o'clock rolled around we closed the doors to the public and opened them up to UMR/ Missouri S&T alum. Alumni from the D.C. area came to tour the house and take us to a very tasty reception. We entertained about twenty-five alum and their family; Chancellor Carney even came to visit. Some Solar House alum members even came to pester us for the weekend."
Sara reports that "today Wednesday we actually accomplished quite a bit. It was the first time since Day 1 that night and day crews worked together for the whole day. Here a couple of things that happened."