Solar Decathlon

Student-built houses powered exclusively by solar power on display in Washington D.C. at the Solar Decathlon 2009.

The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon is an international collegiate competition made up of 10 contests that challenge student teams to design and build full-size, solar-powered houses. The winner of the competition is the team that best blends design excellence and smart energy production with innovation, market potential, and energy and water efficiency.

The first Solar Decathlon was held in 2002. The competition has since occurred biennially in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2015. The Solar Decathlon 2017 will be located in Denver, Colorado, adjacent to the 61st & Peña station on the University of Colorado A line commuter train connecting Denver International Airport to downtown Union Station. In addition to the competition, Solar Decathlon 2017 will also feature a sustainability expo, professional development and consumer workshops, middle-school education events, and a community festival.

Open to the public and free of charge, the Solar Decathlon allows visitors to tour energy- and water-efficient houses, and gather ideas to save energy and conserve water in their own homes.

The Solar Decathlon 2017 competition is presented by the U.S. Department of Energy and administered by Energetics, Incorporated, a subsidiary of VSE Corporation. Previous competitions were administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

Since the first competition in 2002, the Solar Decathlon has expanded internationally to include four additional worldwide competitions in Europe, China, Latin America and Caribbean, and the Middle East. Solar Decathlon Europe was established under a 2007 memorandum of understanding between the United States and Spain , which hosted competitions in 2010 and 2012. France hosted in 2014. The Solar Decathlon China was established with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the U.S. Department of Energy, China’s National Energy Administration, Peking University and Applied Materials on January 20, 2011.The first Solar Decathlon China took place in August 2013 in the city of Datong. The next Solar Decathlon China will take place in summer 2017 and was formed through a memorandum of understanding among the United States Department of Energy, the People’s Republic of China, and the China Overseas Development Corporation.

Solar Decathlon Latin America and Caribbean was established under a memorandum of understanding between the United States Department of Energy and the government of Colombia in 2014. The first competition was held in Cali in December 2015.

Solar Decathlon Middle East, to be held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in 2018, was formed by a memorandum of understanding between the United States Department of Energy and the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority in 2015.

History

The Solar Decathlon 2011 was held in the National Mall’s West Potomac Park in Washington D.C.

The inaugural Solar Decathlon was open to the public between September 19 and October 6, 2002. Fourteen teams from across the United States, including Puerto Rico, presented their projects on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The University of Colorado was awarded first place. At the second Solar Decathlon, likewise held on the National Mall on October 6–16, 2005, eighteen teams from the United States, Canada, and Spain participated; the University of Colorado successfully defended its championship.

The third Solar Decathlon took place on the National Mall on October 12–20, 2007. Twenty teams from the United States, Canada, Spain, and Germany competed, and Technische Universität Darmstadt (Team Germany) was named the overall champion. The fourth Solar Decathlon was held on the National Mall on October 8–18, 2009, and included teams from the United States, Canada, Germany, and Spain; Team Germany was named the winner for a second time.

The fifth Solar Decathlon took place between September 23 and October 2, 2011, with nineteen participating teams representing the United States, China, New Zealand, Belgium, and Canada. The event was held in Washington D.C.'s West Potomac Park, near the Potomac River, the Tidal Basin and the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, along a road between the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials. The University of Maryland was the overall competition winner. The sixth Solar Decathlon took place on October 3–13, 2013, in Orange County Great Park in Irvine, California – it was the first Solar Decathlon to take place outside Washington D.C., and was won by Vienna University of Technology (Team Austria). The seventh Solar Decathlon was held October 8 – 18, 2015, also at the Orange County Great Park. Stevens Institute of Technology was the overall winner. This was their third Solar Decathlon competition.

Awards

In 2010, the National Building Museum awarded the Solar Decathlon an Honor Award for its emphasis on "renewable energy, energy-efficient, and environmentally responsible systems" and its role in "educating a new generation of built-environment professionals".

Scope of contests

Like the Olympic decathlon, the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon consists of 10 contests. The contests evaluate cost-effective design; innovation balanced with market potential; water and energy efficiency; energy production and time-of-use energy; and communications strategies. Each Solar Decathlon contest is worth a maximum of 100 points, for a potential competition total of 1,000 points. Teams earn points through task completion, performance monitoring, and jury evaluation.

Contest 1: Architecture

For the Architecture Contest of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2017, teams are required to design and build attractive, high-performance houses that integrate solar and energy efficiency technologies seamlessly into the design.

Contest 2: Market Potential

For the Market Potential Contest of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2017, each team is required to design a primary residence for year-round occupancy for a specific target client of its choosing..

Contest 3: Engineering

Solar Decathlon houses are marvels of engineering. For the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2017, a jury of engineers will evaluate the engineering design and implementation of each team's house based on the following criteria: Approach, Design, Efficiency, Performance and Documentation.

Contest 4: Communications

The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2017 teams must develop and implement communications strategies to engage their local communities, provide free tours to visitors during the event in Denver, and make an impact across the world through their digital presence and media outreach.

Contest 5: Innovation

New for the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2017, the Innovation Contest encourages teams to take a thoughtful approach to innovation, rather than being limited solely to off-the-shelf solutions.

Other contests, such as Market Potential, provide further checks and balances to ensure innovative ideas are implemented within market realities.

Contest 6: Water

Always ahead of their time, past Solar Decathlon teams have consistently integrated water use and reuse strategies into their designs, even though no points were awarded for this effort. Now, the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2017 is rewarding smart water solutions for the first time.

This new contest is important not only because water is a precious resource, but also because water and energy are inextricably linked—it takes water to make the energy we use, and it takes energy to treat and deliver the clean water we require.

Contest 7: Health and Comfort

New for 2017, the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon Health and Comfort Contest combines new contest components with those from previous Solar Decathlon competitions. Teams are challenged to build a house that minimizes the flow of cooled air in summer or heated air in winter to the outdoors, operate heating and cooling systems that keep temperature and humidity steady, all while maintaining healthy indoor air quality.

Contest 8: Appliances

The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2017 Appliances Contest is designed to mimic the appliance use of an average U.S. home. Teams earn points for operating their refrigerator and freezer, washing and drying laundry, simulating cooking tasks and hot showers.

Contest 9: Home Life

The Home Life Contest in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2017 demonstrates whether or not a house is capable of being a home. Teams are required to engage in a variety of activities just like real homeowners. They share meals with friends and neighbors, watch television, use their computers, and host games nights. They even commute in an electric vehicle charged from the house's solar electric system.

Contest 10: Energy Contest

The Energy Contest of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2017 evaluates each team's energy production and a theoretical value to a utility of the energy they both contribute to and take from the Solar Decathlon electricity grid.

For energy production, teams receive full points for producing at least as much energy as its house needs, thus achieving a net energy consumption of zero during the competition.

The energy value component of the Energy Contest is designed to mimic the arrangement a consumer with a solar-powered house may have with a utility, including a net-metering agreement and time-of-use electricity rates.

Competitors

2017

Teams selected for the Solar Decathlon 2017 competition to be held in Denver, CO are:

• Georgia Tech: Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA)
• Las Vegas: University of Nevada, Las Vegas (Las Vegas, NV)
• Maryland: University of Maryland (College Park, MD)
• Missouri S&T: Missouri University of Science and Technology (Rolla, MO)
• Netherlands: HU University of Applied Science Utrecht (Utrecht, Netherlands)
• Northwestern: Northwestern University (Evanston, IL)
• Swiss Team: École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, School of Engineering and Architecture Fribourg, Geneva University of Art and Design, and the University of Fribourg (Lausanne, Switzerland and Fribourg, Switzerland)
• Team Alabama: University of Alabama at Birmingham; University of Alabama, Huntsville; and Calhoun Community College (Birmingman, AL, Huntsville, AL and Tanner, AL)
• Team Daytona Beach: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Daytona State College (Daytona Beach, FL)
• UC Berkeley: University of California at Berkeley (Berkeley, CA)
• UC Davis: University of California, Davis (Davis, CA)
• Wash U: Washington University (St. Louis, MO)
• Washington State: Washington State University (Pullman, WA)
• West Virginia: West Virginia University (Morgantown, WV)

2015

Teams selected for the Solar Decathlon 2015 competition, also held at Orange County Great Park in Irvine, CA.

• California Polytechnic State University (San Luis Obispo, CA)

Just as birds use materials from their environment to build a nest, Missouri University of Science and Technology reused common materials to build its U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2015 entry.

• California State University, Sacramento (Sacramento, CA)
• Clemson University (Clemson, SC)
• Crowder College (Neosho, MO) and Drury University (Springfield, MO)
• Missouri University of Science and Technology (Rolla, MO)
• New York City College of Technology (New York, NY)
• State University of New York at Alfred College of Technology and Alfred University (Alfred, NY)
• Stevens Institute of Technology (Hoboken, NJ)
• University of Florida, National University of Singapore, and Santa Fe College
• The University of Texas at Austin and Technische Universitaet Muenchen
• University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
• University of California, Davis
• University of California, Irvine; Chapman University; Irvine Valley College and Saddleback College
• Vanderbilt University and Middle Tennessee State University
• West Virginia University and University of Roma Tor Vergata
• Western New England University, Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá, and Universidad Tecnológica Centroamericana

2013

AIR House of Czech Technical University team. in 2014 rebuilt in Prague as the Information Centre of the CTU

Teams selected for the Solar Decathlon 2013 competition, the first one to be held outside Washington, DC, were:

• Arizona State University and The University of New Mexico (Tempe, Arizona, and Albuquerque, New Mexico)
• Czech Technical University (Prague, Czech Republic)
• Hampton University and Old Dominion University (Hampton and Norfolk, Virginia)
• Middlebury College (Middlebury, Vermont)
• Missouri University of Science and Technology (Rolla, Missouri)
• Norwich University (Northfield, Vermont)
• Queen's University, Carleton University, and Algonquin College (Kingston and Ottawa, Ontario, Canada)
• Santa Clara University (Santa Clara, California)
• Southern California Institute of Architecture and California Institute of Technology (Los Angeles, California)
• Stanford University (Palo Alto, California)
• Stevens Institute of Technology (Hoboken, New Jersey)
• The Catholic University of America, George Washington University, and American University (Washington, DC)
• The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (Charlotte, North Carolina)
• The University of Texas at El Paso and El Paso Community College (El Paso, Texas)
• University of Calgary (Calgary, Alberta, Canada)
• University of Louisville, Ball State University and University of Kentucky (Louisville, Kentucky; Muncie, Indiana; and Lexington, Kentucky)
• University of Nevada Las Vegas (Las Vegas, Nevada)
• University of Southern California (Los Angeles, California)
• Vienna University of Technology (Vienna, Austria) winner 2013
• West Virginia University (Morgantown, West Virginia)

2011

Teams selected for the Solar Decathlon 2011 competition were:

• Appalachian State University (team page)
• Florida International University (team page)
• Middlebury College (team page )
• New Zealand: Victoria University of Wellington (team page)
• The Ohio State University (team page)
• Parsons The New School for Design, Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy, and Stevens Institute of Technology (team page)
• Purdue University (team page)
• The Southern California Institute of Architecture and California Institute of Technology (team page)
• Team Belgium: Ghent University (team page)
• Team Canada: University of Calgary (team page)
• Team China: Tongji University (team page)
• Team Florida: Florida State University, the University of Central Florida, the University of Florida, and the University of South Florida (team page)
• Team Massachusetts: Massachusetts College of Art and Design and the University of Massachusetts Lowell (team page)
• Team New Jersey: Rutgers - The State University of New Jersey and New Jersey Institute of Technology (team page)
• Team New York: The City College of New York (team page)
• Tidewater Virginia: Old Dominion University and Hampton University (team page)
• University of Hawaii (team page)*On June 1, 2011, the U.S. Department of Energy received formal notification from the *University of Hawaii of its withdrawal from Solar Decathlon 2011.
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (team page)
• University of Maryland (team page) winner 2011
• The University of Tennessee (team page)

2009

The competing teams in Solar Decathlon 2009 were:

• Cornell University (team page)
• Iowa State University (team page)
• Penn State (team page)
• Rice University (team page)
• Team Alberta: University of Calgary, SAIT Polytechnic, Alberta College of Art and Design, and Mount Royal College (team page)
• Team Boston: Boston Architectural College and Tufts University (team page)
• Team California: Santa Clara University and California College of the Arts (team page)
• Team Germany: Technische Universität Darmstadt (team page) winner 2009
• Team Missouri: Missouri University of Science and Technology and University of Missouri (team page)
• Team Ontario/BC: University of Waterloo, Ryerson University, and Simon Fraser University (team page)
• Team Spain: Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (team page)
• The Ohio State University (team page)
• The University of Arizona (team page)
• Universidad de Puerto Rico (team page)
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (team page)
• University of Kentucky (team page)
• University of Louisiana at Lafayette (team page)
• University of Minnesota (team page)
• University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (team page)
• Virginia Tech (team page)

2007

Georgia Tech's entry to Solar Decathlon 2007, located on Tech campus.

Team Montréal: École de Technologie Supérieure, Université de Montréal, and McGill University

The 20 competing teams in Solar Decathlon 2007 were:

• Carnegie Mellon University (team page)
• Cornell University (team page)
• Georgia Institute of Technology (team page)
• Kansas Project Solar House: Kansas State University and University of Kansas (team page)
• Lawrence Technological University (team page)
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (team page)
• New York Institute of Technology (team page)
• Penn State University (team page)
• Santa Clara University (team page)
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (team page)
• Team Montréal: École de Technologie Supérieure, Université de Montréal, and McGill University (team page)
• Technische Universität Darmstadt (team page) winner 2007
• Texas A&M University (team page)
• Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (team page)
• Universidad de Puerto Rico (team page)
• University of Cincinnati (team page)
• University of Colorado at Boulder (team page)
• University of Maryland (team page)
• University of Missouri-Rolla (now Missouri S&T) (team page)
• University of Texas at Austin (team page)

2005

Pittsburgh Synergy Solar Decathlon House at Carnegie Mellon University.

The 18 competing universities in Solar Decathlon 2005 were:

• California Polytechnic State University
• Canadian Solar Decathlon: Concordia University and Université de Montréal
• Cornell University (team page)
• Crowder College
• Florida International University
• New York Institute of Technology (team page)
• Pittsburgh Synergy: Carnegie Mellon University, University of Pittsburgh, and the Art Institute of Pittsburgh (team page)
• Rhode Island School of Design
• Universidad de Puerto Rico
• Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (team page)
• University of Colorado, Denver and Boulder winner 2005
• University of Maryland (team page)
• University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
• University of Michigan
• University of Missouri–Rolla (now Missouri S&T) and Rolla Technical Institute (team page)
• University of Texas at Austin (UT SolarD team page)
• Virginia Tech (team page)
• Washington State University

2002

The 14 competing teams in Solar Decathlon 2002 were:

• Auburn University
• Carnegie Mellon
• Crowder College
• Texas A&M University
• Tuskegee University
• University of Colorado at Boulder winner 2002
• University of Delaware
• University of Maryland
• University of Missouri–Rolla (now Missouri S&T) and Rolla Technical Institute (team page)
• University of North Carolina at Charlotte
• Universidad de Puerto Rico
• University of Texas at Austin
• University of Virginia (team page)
• Virginia Tech

See also

• Energy conservation
• Green building
• Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a U.S. certification for sustainable architecture
• Low-energy house
• Sustainable architecture

External links

• Solar Decathlon official website
• Solar Decathlon Europe official website
• Solar Decathlon China official website
• Solar Decathlon 2009 photo gallery via DC Photo Tour