A new book that chronicles the development of an award-winning solar home that competed in the 2009 Solar Decathlon in Washington, D.C., has been released by 青青草视频 Press.
鈥淕enerating Hope: Stories of the BeauSoleil Louisiana Solar Home鈥 will be available for purchase during Festivals Acadiens et Creoles, which will be held at Girard Park Friday through Sunday.
Signed copies will be available from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Thursday through Sunday, at the BeauSoleil Home, 140 Girard Park Circle.
On Friday, at 2 p.m., Michael Doucet, founder of the Grammy Award-winning Cajun band BeauSoleil will give a special performance in celebration of the book鈥檚 release and the fifth anniversary of the decathlon.
The book is written by W. Geoff Gjertson, an architecture professor at UL Lafayette, and Dege Legg, a writer and Grammy-nominated musician. Gjertsen was faculty advisor for the BeauSoleil Home, which won first place in Market Viability and captured the People鈥檚 Choice award in the decathlon.
Over 200 UL Lafayette students and a handful of University professors worked on the project, along with construction specialists.
鈥淎lthough it was created for the Solar Decathlon, it was never simply about winning a competition. The home embodies the hearts, souls, ingenuity, way of life, and spirit of the Cajun and Creole people of South Louisiana,鈥 Gjertson writes in the book鈥檚 introduction. 鈥淭he BeauSoleil Home captures the past and present. And it represents a possible future direction for energy-efficient and hurricane-resistant housing on the Gulf Coast.鈥
The book includes interviews with the team that designed and built the home and those who supported it.
鈥淕enerating Hope: Stories of the BeauSoleil Louisiana Solar Home鈥 features over 180 photographs that illustrate the building鈥檚 technical innovations, as well as sidebars that provide a guide to implementing solar and sustainable practices.