A 100 percent energy independent house will be on auction this Thursday, July 26, in the Leroy Merlin store's car park, starting at 20:00. The starting price is EUR 50,000 and the house's value is estimated at EUR 125,000.

The PRISPA project house is also the prototype of Romania's entry in the Solar Decathlon Europe 2012 competition, designed by members of the “Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urbanism, the Polytechnic University of Bucharest, and the Technical University of Civil Engineering of Bucharest.

The team will sell the house to cover the remaining costs for taking part in the competition.  The annual competition, set up by the US Department of Energy, challenges university teams to design and build attractive solar powered housing.

Romania's entry uses some traditional design elements, modern styling and solar paneling to make the small house able of generating its own electricity supply independently. The team will travel to Madrid for the competition, where they will build another house to the same design.

Liam Lever, liam@romania-insider.com

(photo source: PRISPA project)