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It won't come as a shocker to people who follow green technology and architecture that Team Germany came away with top marks at the Solar Decathlon, a competition that invites universities from around the world to compete to design -- and build -- the best zero-energy home. What might have surprised even Team Germany was how the public responded to the open-house event.
The Solar Decathlon might be the coolest DOE–sponsored program since they split the atom. And the public definitely bought it. During the portions of the two-week competition that allowed the public to view houses, those 20 houses saw a lot of house guests.
Placing homes on the National Mall that generate as much energy as they consume -- homes that tourists and residents alike can freely browse -- exposes people to more than a new concept. Walking into the structure makes the possibility real. It's one thing to watch the fanciful dream take shape on the Discovery Channel, but the experience changes when you walk into the house, tactile and at hand. You imagine where you'd hang your hat.
Photographer Justin Mathews took a look and shared his own experience. The winning design by Team Germany (mostly architecture students from Technische Universität Darmstadt) -- a two-story cube covered in photovoltaic panels -- is pictured. Read more about the Solar Decathlon entries here.
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This is an awesome event that has really taken off. You are absolutely right in your analysis. The problem with solar has been it has always had the image of being 1) a hippie technology for folks who don't mind trade offs; or 2) a cool technology that is far off in the future.
The Decathlon shows how solar can be used in practical applications today.
+1 to the DOE for continuing to support this event.
True that. SolarDecathlon continues to give a weird impression, though, by rewarding absolute energy production. So teams (like Germany) dramatically oversize their solar systems compared to what that size home would typically need for a year's usage - the solar systems on most of these houses would power a McMansion, let alone the superefficient pseudo-double-wides the Decathlon teams build. I worry that gives people an impression they'd need way more panels than they really would.
See also the National Tour of Solar Homes put on each year by the American Solar Energy Society...good selection locally.
Sure it's awesome but how to "really" implement this? The German renewable energy policy, and in particular the adopted feed-in tariff scheme, has failed to harness the market incentives needed to ensure a viable and cost-effective introduction of renewable energies into the country’s energy portfolio.
The turnout shouldn't be so surprising-- the event was extremely popular last year as well. I stopped going because you end up waiting in line for a hour just to be herded through a house the size of a couple office cubes. It's encouraging to see so many people taking an interest in this, though!
Better hurry up and see this. A few days from now these will all be in foreclosure.