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Solar Decathlon
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The Solar Decathlon is a competition in which 20 teams of college and university students compete to design, build, and operate the most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered house. The Solar Decathlon is also an event to which the public is invited to observe the powerful combination of solar energy, energy efficiency, and the best in home design.
The international and biennial event is sponsored by the United States Department of Energy and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
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Encyclopedia
The Solar Decathlon is a competition in which 20 teams of college and university students compete to design, build, and operate the most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered house. The Solar Decathlon is also an event to which the public is invited to observe the powerful combination of solar energy, energy efficiency, and the best in home design.
The international and biennial event is sponsored by the United States Department of Energy and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Competing colleges and universities build solar powered homes and operate them on the National Mall for 3 weeks every other year.
History
The inaugural competition took place in Sept-Oct 2002. The second Solar Decathlon was Sept. 29 - Oct.16, 2005. The Third Solar Decathlon took place on October 12 - 20, 2007.
The fourth is set for the fall of 2009.
The point of the competition is not to create new building technologies. On the contrary, entrants have to use commercially available products to demonstrate that a sun-powered home can be commercially reproduced. For a university like MIT with access to high-efficiency, NASA-grade solar electric panels, that was an unwelcome constraint.
Scope of Contests
Solar Decathlon organizers selected the following 10 contests for the 2007 Competition. The teams can earn up to 100 points for each contest except Architecture, for which they can earn up to 200 points and Engineering and Market Viability, for which they can earn up to 150 points. Of the 1200 total points possible, 525 points are awarded based on objective performance measurements or task completion, and 675 points are awarded through subjective evaluations by a variety of appropriately selected experts.
Contest 1: Architecture
To be architecturally sound, a home’s design must not only satisfy human comfort needs, it must also be well organized and visually pleasing both inside and out. The Architecture contest is intended to demonstrate that solar-powered, energy-efficient homes can be designed to meet enduring architectural standards. A jury of architects will judge each entry on the overall aesthetics and the successful design and integration of the solar, energy-efficiency, and other technical features of the house. The jury will evaluate the houses early in the week of contests and will not be influenced by the objectively measured performances of the houses.
Contest 2: Engineering
Although architects are critical collaborators in the engineering design of well-integrated high performance homes, engineers and other technical experts possess unique skills that are required to design, specify, install, and maintain the house’s systems. A jury of technical experts in the residential building industry will judge each entry on the functionality, efficiency, innovation, robustness, and economic value of the house’s building envelope, environmental control, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems.
Contest 3: Market Viability
An important objective of the Solar Decathlon is to prove that homes containing solar and energy-efficient design and technologies are market ready and belong in the world’s diverse neighborhoods. Experts from the building industry will compose the jury for this contest. Judging will take place early in the week of contests and will not be influenced by the objectively measured technical performance of the houses.
Contest 4: Communications
The Solar Decathlon is a competition and a public event. The Communications contest challenges teams to communicate their experiences in this project to a general audience. Through Web sites and public tours, the teams will share the knowledge they have acquired. Their experiences and their houses will serve as living demonstrations of the viability of solar energy and energy efficiency technologies in the home. Panels of judges with expertise in communications and public relations will award points based on subjective evaluations of the teams’ Web sites and house tours.
Contest 5: Comfort Zone
Well-designed houses provide a safe and comfortable indoor environment for occupants through heating, cooling, humidity, and ventilation controls. In this contest, the teams will be evaluated objectively on their ability to maintain temperature and relative humidity within prescribed set points. Other aspects of indoor environmental quality will be evaluated in Contest 2: Engineering.
Contest 6: Appliances
A house is not a home without kitchen appliances, laundry facilities, and electronics such as personal computers and TV/video players. This contest requires the teams to demonstrate that their houses can provide the necessary energy to effectively operate appliances and electronics. The teams will store food in their refrigerators and freezers, host a dinner party, wash dishes, and do laundry during the week of contests. The teams will also be required to operate their personal computers and TV/video players a set number of hours each day. All points for this contest will be awarded based on task completion and objective performance evaluations of the required appliances and electronics.
Contest 7: Hot Water
This contest demonstrates that the teams’ houses can provide all of the energy necessary to heat water for domestic uses. Teams will receive points for performing tests that simulate the average time and temperature requirements for two showers each day of the contest week. Twice per day, teams will have to deliver 15 gallons (56.8 liters) of hot water (at least 110°F [43.3°C]) in no more than 10 minutes.
Contest 8: Lighting
Sunlight, moonlight, and electric light all contribute to the livability and environment of a dwelling, inside and out. Lighting systems should be designed to minimize energy use by maximizing the contribution of daylight and by using controls to minimize the use of electric illumination. This contest evaluates the quantity and quality of the lighting in the houses both day and night. Points will be awarded on a team’s ability to provide acceptable lighting levels for specified durations. A jury of lighting experts will award points on the basis of subjective evaluations of the teams’ lighting system designs.
Contest 9: Energy Balance
This contest demonstrates that the sun can supply the energy necessary for all the daily energy demands of a small household. The object is to produce as much or more energy than the house consumes over a defined period of time to demonstrate that the house and its systems function sustainably. Points will be awarded based on each team’s ability to use their solar electric systems to produce as much electrical energy as they require during the contest week.
Contest 10: Getting Around
Because the amount of energy households use to meet their personal transportation needs is so significant, this contest is designed to demonstrate that a house itself can be used to provide that energy. The contest evaluates how much “extra” energy the houses can generate to provide transportation for the teams in street-legal, commercially available electric vehicles, which will be provided by the organizers. All points for this contest will be awarded based on objective evaluation—the more miles the teams drive, the more points they get.
Competitors
2009
The competing universities in the 2009 are going to be:
- Boston Architectural College, Boston, Massachusetts; and Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts ()
- Cornell University, Ithaca, New York ()
- Iowa State University of Science and Technology, Ames, Iowa ()
- Team Missouri: Missouri University of Science and Technology and University of Missouri, Rolla, Missouri ( team page)
- The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio ()
- The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania ()
- Rice University, Houston, Texas ()
- Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, California; and California College of the Arts, San Francisco, California ()
- Technische Universität Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany ()
- Universidad de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (), Madrid, Spain
- The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona
- University of Calgary, SAIT Polytechnic, Mount Royal College & the Alberta College of Art and Design; Calgary, Alberta, Canada ()
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois ()
- University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky ()
- University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, Louisiana
- University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota ()
- University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario; Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario; and Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
- University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia ()
2007
The 20 competing universities in the 2007 Solar Decathlon were:
2005
The 18 competing universities in the 2005 Solar Decathlon were:
2002
The 14 competing universities in the 2002 Solar Decathlon were:
See also
External links
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