Germany Takes Home Solar Decathlon Prize
Two-time winner University of Colorado was the team to beat, with this year's unique "core" concept, but they suffered early with some low scores in appliance stamina and maintaining a comfortable temperature in the home. Instead, one of only two international teams in the contest, Technische Universität Darmstadt, was just announced to be the overall winner of this year's Solar Decathlon. Their house not only survived a long boat ride from Europe undamaged, but featured a clever "passive energy design" and an electrical bus system with pre-programmed light options that brought them first place in both the Architecture and Lighting contests, as well as the just announced Engineering contest.
Local team University of Maryland put up a tough fight, scoring first or second in 5 of the ten categories, but couldn't make up for the 17th ranked showing in Appliances, keeping them in a still admirable second place. Their proximity to the Chesapeake Bay gave their LEAFhouse a "bio-inspired design" that included, among other features, plants growing on the exterior walls. Tom Welsh from the Department of Energy noted that the biggest upset in the competition, however, came this afternoon, when Santa Clara University beat out Penn State in the Engineering challenge, to take home 3rd place.
This is certainly a case, however, of "there are no losers." The contest provides the next generation of engineers and architects the resources to create technology we can use today, not only for those wishing to decrease our impact on the environment, but those of us simply wanting to bring our ever-skyrocketing utility bills down. The Solar Decathlon strives to bring the ease and prevalence (much of the houses are built with off-the-shelf items) of these technologies to the public. Scott Frank, with the American Institute of Architects (AIA) -- one of Decathlon's many sponsors -- points out:
The AIA tracks residential design trends and in the past couple of years there has been a significant increase in homeowner demand for energy-efficient products and design solutions. That said, there is still some uncertainty and misconceptions in the market place about what it takes to make a home green. Mostly, that there is a tremendous upfront financial commitment involved, while the cost of eco-friendly building materials has [actually] come down substantially in recent years.All of the houses will be open for tours tomorrow, the Decathlon's last day, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Workshops for homeowners regarding easy to implement energy-saving technologies are given every hour and a half, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free, but do arrive early if you want to see most of the houses
Photo by Heather Goss.