A hyper energy-efficient challenge is going on right now in Farragut Square

Remember the viral ice bucket challenge from a few summers ago? An ice challenge of a different sort is currently going on in Farragut Square. D.C. is one of the cities participating in a global experiment, according to PoPville, with two boxes each filled with 1,800 pounds of ice. One colorful ice box is built to the standard building code and the other is built to a higher performance building standard (aka the Passive House standard.)

On July 20 at 12:30 p.m., there will be a big reveal to see how much ice in each box withstood a sweltering D.C. summer. The idea is to show how high-performance green buildings can make a difference and you can even compete in a contest to guess how much ice remains frozen after two weeks.

Golden Triangle DC/Facebook

• About those big colorful boxes in Farragut Square [PoPville]
• Ice Box Challenge [Official Site]