SOLAR TODAY - January/February 2010

CLICK See SOLAR TODAY’s coverage of the Decathlon: solartoday.org/decathlon

Left, the Illinois Solar Decathlon 2009 house blended traditional homebuilding techniques with great advances in technology. Right, Team California’s Solar Decathlon 2009 house ranked in the top three in nearly all the prestigious subjective contests.

RICHARD KING/U.S. DEPARTMENT OF
ENERGY SOLAR DECATHLON

JIM TE TRO/U.S. DEPAR TMEN T OF ENERGY SOLAR DECATHLON

can provide an ample amount of energy for modern-day living).

Day by day, suspense built until the last moment. Team California won best architecture and was comfortably in the lead by the fifth day. But as the week progressed and rain set in, strong-performing houses caught up. By the next-to-last day, Thursday, Oct. 15, Illinois had passed Team California to occupy first place with 649 points, and Team Germany was in a virtual tie with Team California for second place, each with 644 points. But when Net Metering points were awarded the next morning, Team Germany took the lead by 11 points for producing more surplus power than any other team.

And the Top Spots Go to …

First Place: Team Germany (Technische Uni-versität Darmstadt). The Solar Decathlon 2007 defending champion, Team Germany came to Washington, D.C., with a solid strategy for win-

ning. They set their sights on the Net Metering contest (worth the most points) by using the maximum building dimensions allowable, applying photovoltaics to every available surface and pushing the envelope with new technologies.

Second Place: University of Illinois at Urba-na-Champaign. This team set out to express its regional heritage and create a synergy between old and new. It blended traditional techniques in homebuilding with technology advances to create a house that performed exceptionally well in energy efficiency. Illinois also achieved elegant simplicity in design.

Third Place: Team California (Santa Clara University, California College of the Arts). Team California excelled in some of the most prestigious subjective contests and ranked in the top three of nearly all of them. Beautiful in every respect, the innovative California house masterfully melded interior and exterior spaces while offering visitors a high-quality learning experience.

Solar Decathlon 2009 Teams Teams from 20 colleges and universities competed in the Solar Decathlon 2009.

•;Cornell;University

•;Iowa;State;University

•;The;Ohio;State;University

•;Penn;State

•;Rice;University

•;Team;Alberta;(University;of;Calgary,;SAIT Polytechnic,;Alberta;College;of

Art;+;Design,;Mount;Royal;University)

•;Team;Boston;(Boston;Architectural College,;Tufts;University)

•;Team;California;(Santa;Clara;University, California;College;of;the;Arts)

•;Team;Missouri;(Missouri;University of;Science;&;Technology,;University of;Missouri)

•;Team;Ontario/BC;(University;of Waterloo,;Ryerson;University,;Simon Fraser;University)

•;Technische;Universität;Darmstadt

•;University;of;Arizona

•;Universidad;de;Puerto;Rico

•;Universidad;Politécnica;de;Madrid

•;University;of;Illinois;at;Urbana-Champaign

•;University;of;Kentucky

•;University;of;Louisiana;at;Lafayette

•;University;of;Minnesota

•;University;of;Wisconsin-Milwaukee

•;Virginia;Tech

For;more;information;about;the;teams, visit;solardecathlon.gov/teams.cfm.

More Than a Design Competition

The Solar Decathlon is much more than an exhibition of energy-efficient housing design. It provides a unique training experience for our future architects, engineers and energy leaders.

The event is also an effective outreach tool. It enables thousands of visitors (and millions who experience the event online) to see how houses designed to use as little energy as possible can also be beautiful. The Solar Decathlon experience demonstrates ways citizens can increase energy efficiency in their own houses.

On top of these powerful results, the location of the event on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., draws policymakers and other influencers. Here, they can see for themselves how solar energy and energy-efficient technologies can be successfully integrated into the built environ-

Solar Decathlon 2009:
By the Numbers

20University;teams

3,000+Students,
faculty;and;staff;team;members

300,000House;visits

2;million Web;page;views

( solardecathlon.gov)

40Workshops 750Volunteers 35Visitors;from;Capitol;Hill;offices 35Sponsors

ment. More than 35 Hill offices, including 21 Congress members, attended a reception organized by the Solar Energy Industries Association on behalf of the Solar Decathlon. Record numbers of VIP guests — including members of the House and Senate, as well as Secretary of Energy Steven Chu — toured the solar village.

All of this is significant.

I feel immense pride and gratitude for the more than 3,000 students, teams and faculty members who made this event possible. What they did to contribute to this event and further the knowledge of and excitement surrounding solar energy, energy efficiency and green building design cannot be measured. No matter how teams scored in the competition, they all are winners.