The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon, a bi-annual competition among collegiate teams to build solar-powered houses, opens to the public this Friday in Washington, D.C. Twenty teams from around the world will compete in 10 contests including architecture, affordability, home entertainment, and energy balance.

The sustainable technology in the competing houses makes them interesting, but the designs make them just plain fun: Check out the University of Tennessee’s walkthrough for a super-clever approach to small-space living and the funky exterior of the SCIArc/Caltech house.

Even more fun, Planet Forward has created a matchmaking quiz (Firefox or Chrome recommended) so that you can see which decathlon entry would be most interesting to you based