Twenty university-led teams descended on the National Mall this week, showcasing high-tech, high-efficiency solar-powered homes they have built for the 2009 U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon.
Over 800 student competitors from the United States, Canada, Spain and Germany are competing in the 2009 Solar Decathlon. The international competition concludes October 18 with winners announced on Friday, October 16. This is the fourth time DOE has held the competition since 2002.
The homes are open to the public beginning today. The Solar Decathlon includes ten contests that evaluate the architecture, engineering, comfort, marketability, appliances, lighting, and other aspects of the teams’ houses. The teams will have to perform everyday tasks, including cooking, laundry, and washing dishes, to test the energy efficiency of their homes.
This year’s 20 university-led teams were chosen two years ago through a competitive process. Since then, teams have gathered their combined interdisciplinary talents to design and build the homes, but also to raise funds, furnish, outfit, decorate, and optimize the homes’ performance.
The 20 university-led teams include:
Cornell University (Ithaca, NY)
The Ohio State University (Columbus, OH)
Iowa State University (Ames, IA)
The University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ)
Penn State University (University Park, PA)
Universidad de Puerto Rico (San Juan, PR)
Rice University (Houston, TX)
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Madrid, Spain)
Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, VA)
University of Louisiana at Lafayette (Lafayette, LA)
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (Milwaukee, WI)
University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, MN)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Champaign, IL)
University of Kentucky (Lexington, KY)
Team Boston (Boston Architectural College, Tufts University) (Boston, MA)
Team California (Santa Clara University, California College of the Arts) (Santa Clara, CA)
Technische Universität Darmstadt (Winner, 2007 Solar Decathlon) (Darmstadt, Germany)
Team Missouri (Missouri University of Science & Technology, University of Missouri) (Rolla, MO)
Team Ontario/BC (University of Waterloo, Ryerson University, Simon Fraser University) (Ontario, Canada)
Team Alberta (University of Calgary, SAIT Polytechnic, Alberta College of Art + Design, Mount Royal College) (Alberta, Canada)
The New York Times published coverage of the event today, including descriptions of the houses and the competition between 2007’s winning team from Germany and the team from Cornell. Link to the story below.
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