SOLAR DECATHLON
by Jill Fehrenbacher, 10/18/05
Last week, the National Mall in Washington, D.C. was host to a solar village constructed of the 18 entries in the 3rd annual U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon. Defending their title, the University of Colorado won the competition, prevailing in three of ten divisions. Judged on several requirements including architecture, energy balance, communication of ideas, and comfort, the projects produced exceptional case studies on the integration of renewable energy with practical building solutions.
While the formal aesthetics ranged from conventional wood siding to what could only be compared to an Airstream, each entry was designed to generate enough solar power to fuel a modern lifestyle – transportation included. Constructed at each team’s respective university, the homes were then disassembled, transported, and reassembled at the competition site, educating visitors while raising the profile and viability of sustainable living.
[...] find out. To do this, they have staged, once again, the Solar decathlon, a competition challenging 20 college teams from around the globe to design, build, and operate an energy-efficient, fully solar-powered house [...]