College students in southwestern Missouri have helped develop a portable solar-powered home they believe can withstand the most powerful of tornadoes.
The Springfield News-Leader reports that the house was developed by students at Drury University in Springfield and Crowder College in Neosho.
The house is bound for the national Solar Decathlon competition in Irvine, California. It will compete against other solar homes designed by 20 colleges around the U.S.
Drury architecture professor Traci Sooter says the students developed a way to build a triple layer of "armored" walls on the home's exterior that testing showed would withstand tornado debris traveling at 200 mph or more.
The solar decathlon is sponsored by the Department of Energy.
Sooter says she can't yet say what the home would cost.
