Mumbai: IIT-B’s design for solar-powered housing wins big in international competition

A team from the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B), won the first runner up position at the Solar Decathlon, a competition by the United States department of energy for designing affordable, high-performance and low-carbon buildings that mitigate climate change.

Team Shunya, a group at IIT-B started in 2012, is the only one to represent India in the competition. The team of around 46 students has conceived a cluster-level design of a community of houses that can be powered by solar energy.

The Artist Village at Belapur in Navi Mumbai was considered as the base for the design. The team has designed a community-