The student-designed and -built solar house -- the second-place winner in the U.S. Department of Energy's 2005 international Solar Decathlon competition -- will not be leaving the area.

The 640-square-foot home was sold at a campus auction April 7 for $121,000 to an anonymous Cornell alumnus who bid over the Internet and will place the house on his property outside Ithaca, in Lansing, as a second residence.

The new owner described himself as "an alum who cares a lot for Cornell" and who "wanted to do the best for the project."

The bidding started at $50,000, and with 24 bidders, including two bidding via an Internet auction service, within minutes escalated to more than $100,000. It was all over in less than 25 minutes, said Thomas P. LiVigne, manager of Cornell's Real Estate Department.

"There were a good amount of bidders, the bidding was lively and a lot of spectators were there even though it was raining -- pouring, in fact," he said. "While the auction was going on, students were going by who could hear the auctioneer say, 'Incredible minds put this house together, what's another thousand?'"

The solar house, which has been on the Ag Quad for several months, will be moved to its new home no later than April 14, said LiVigne.

In the meantime, the 2007 Cornell University Solar Decathlon Team (CUSD), is gearing up for the 2007 competition in Washington, D.C. Its proposal was accepted in January with an award of $100,000 over two years. According to its Web site, http://cusd.cornell.edu/, the team already has more than 90 student members.

"Due to the shortened time span of the competition [two years instead of three], CUSD has to do the majority of the design phase during this semester. Fortunately, due to fantastic support throughout the university and great student response, the team was able to hit the ground running," according to the team Web site.