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NYIT's 2005 Solar Decathlon Home Featured in New Thomas L. Friedman Documentary
DiscoveryTimes Premiers Green: The New Red, White and Blue
Tuesday, April 24

Old Westbury, N.Y. - The New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman's latest documentary, which focuses on green technology, featured footage from the 2005 Solar Decathlon, including a look at NYIT's Green Machine/Blue Space solar house and the team's electric car. The segment also presented an interview with David Schieren, energy team leader of NYIT's 2005 Solar Decathlon team.

The 90-minute documentary, titled Green: The New Red, White and Blue premiered on DiscoveryTimes on Saturday, April 21 at 9 p.m. and aired two encore presentations on Monday, April 23 at 8 and 11 p.m. Schieren, who is now chief operating officer of EmPower CES, LLC, explains to Friedman, "We want to demonstrate we can live with solar power, in a renewable fashion, clean."

In his column in The New York Times Magazine on April 15, 2007 titled, " The Power of Green," Friedman proposes that United States can reclaim its international reputation by becoming a leader in alternative energy and environmentalism. "We will need to find a way to reknit America at home, reconnect America abroad, and restore America to its natural place in the global order—as the beacon of progress, hope, and inspiration. I have an idea how. It's called 'green,' " Friedman says.

Friedman, the author of The New York Times bestseller The World is Flat, believes the United States not only needs its first black or female president, but also its first green and environmental president. He writes that the nation needs "a president who is tough enough to level with the American people about the profound economic, geopolitical, and climate threats posed by our addiction to oil—and to offer a real plan to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels."

The columnist, who was impressed with NYIT's use of a hydrogen fuel cell at the 2005 Solar Decathlon, suggests that the country needs to replace the divided red and blue states with 50 green states and says that "projecting America in a green way can be the basis of a new unifying political movement for the 21st century. Green has to become part of America 's DNA."

Events such as the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon support Friedman's idea for America to become a global environmental leader. The competition encourages the use of renewable and alternative energy sources and emphasizes the importance of energy-efficient technologies. One of the goals of the Solar Decathlon is bring these innovative ideas and technologies to the global marketplace, and NYIT's 2007 Solar Decathletes are excited to be a part of this challenging effort.

For information about NYIT's 2007 Solar Decathlon team, visit www.nyit.edu/solar, and for more about the competition, visit www.solardecathlon.com.

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