For the past week, I’ve been inspired as I’ve watched (online) houses being erected along the National Mall. The U.S. Department of Energy is currently hosting 20 university teams from all over the world as part of the biennial Solar Decathlon competition.  From Oct. 8-16, the teams compete in 10 contests (hence the decathlon), including architecture, market viability, engineering, lighting design, communications, comfort zone, hot water, appliances, home entertainment, and net metering.  The houses open to the public on Oct. 9.

For years, the students have designed, created, and built the houses on their respective campus and are now recreating them in a matter of days. Each team’s goal is to create the most attractive and energy-efficient solar-powered house.  Most houses are so effective that they add power back to the local energy grid (maybe our energy bill will be lower this month …).  Pepco has installed smart meters to monitor each house’s energy usage.

My favorite is Team Arizona.  Unlike some, it looks like a real house, and its modular appearance is inviting.  Team Arizona’s house not only uses solar energy but is also very efficient with water.  And according to the Solar Decathlon Twitter, a greenhouse is used as a biosphere.  The house is even insulated with cotton from recycled blue jeans.

I hope the folks on Capitol Hill look out their windows (don’t open them, or the air conditioning will escape).  This is the type of sustainable architecture that can fuel our future.  As Thomas Friedman said, “the human race can no longer continue to power its growth with the fossil-fuel-based system.”  Solar energy is one option among many that must be explored as we enter what Friedman termed the Energy-Climate Era.

This past weekend I was introduced to another option: straw bales.  Persons at the Rolling Ridge Study Retreat Community are building a house insulated with straw bales, a source of insulation that’s become commonplace across the country.  They’re also incorporating thermal heating, cordwood, and limestone-crete (concrete without cement, because cement adds more carbon dioxide to our atmosphere than the global airline industry).  Clay, stone, and limestone from local sources have been used whenever possible.

These stories of blue jeans and straw bales have invigorated me.  I plan to go back to Rolling Ridge and get my hands dirty.  And this weekend, I will trek down Metro’s Green Line to the Mall.  I am aware that just up the street, our leaders are preparing to sign climate change legislation next year.  And while this legislation is necessary (because without it, well, the sky is the limit), I believe human innovation is our best asset.

But as we enter the Energy-Climate Era, we need to tell the stories from on the ground, of how our best and brightest university students and innovative straw balers are re-imagining our green future. And as any sustainable architect would tell you, it’s not easy being green.  In fact, it’s quite like running a decathlon.

Sheldon C. Good is the media assistant for Sojourners.