Can a liberal education prepare you to compete in the Solar Decathlon? In the spirit of Emerson, “Self Reliance,” from Middlebury, will be the only submission from a liberal arts school to the Department of Energy’s architectural competition on the National Mall’s West Potomac Park in Washington, D.C., Sept. 23-Oct. 2, 2011 (Follow on Twitter with the hashtag #SD2011).

Chosen as one of twenty finalists from around the world, Middlebury’s house uses the power of the sun in the form of a traditional New England farmhouse. The Middlebury team has been chronicling their progress on Planet Forward as they construct their home and bring it to DC to compete. We recently featured their project and a another