As of 7 p.m. Monday, Virginia Tech remains in first place overall at Solar Decathlon Europe because of its third-place finish in the Industrialization and Market Viability contest. The Industrialization and Market Viability announcement was made at 5 p.m. today. The Virginia Tech decathletes were extremely happy to again place in the top three in a major contest.

The Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera team celebrates its first-place win.

The winner of the Industrialization and Market Viability contest  was the Spanish team from Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera. It has the beautiful house made out of Corian I wrote about last week. Congratulations also go to the Rosenheim team for winning second place.

The overall standings (which can be found on the Solar Decathlon Europe home page) show Virginia Tech in first, University of Applied Sciences Rosenheim in second, and Ecole National Supérieure darchitecture de Grenoble in third.

Today’s Solar Decathlon Europe press announcement included the following:

Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera, Winner of the Solar Decathlon Europe Industrialization and Market Viability Award

Solar Decathlon Europe has awarded the prize for the Industrialization and Market Viability contest to Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera, with its solar house, SML House. University of Applied Sciences Rosenheim and Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University have been awarded second and third place, respectively.

Senka Morioka, Luis Basagoiti, and Garry Palmer have been the members of the jury for the Industrialization and Market Viability contest. They have judged the viability of the housing market and the possibilities of industrialization and group association in greater density.

The scoring earned by the teams has been:

Richard King is the director of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon. Throughout the Solar Decathlon Europe competition, U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon organizers are reporting from Madrid.

Virginia Tech is in first place at Solar Decathlon Europe—and it was judged first in the Architecture contest! What a busy weekend for the Virginia decathletes. They worked their way up from third place on Saturday to take first place Sunday based on solid performance in the measured contests. Lumenhaus has performed almost perfectly so far.

Solar Decathlon Europe visitors explore Virginia Tech’s Lumenhaus.

Over the weekend, the Architecture jury spent a half hour in each of the 17 houses to evaluate their designs. The Architecture contest is worth 120 points—the most of any of the 10 contests. At 9 p.m. on Sunday, the jury announced the first-, second-, and third-place houses. When Virginia Tech was announced as one of the first-place teams, the decathletes jumped for joy in sweet celebration! (So did I!)

The jury announced several ties, including three first-place teams. The Spanish organizers’ press announcement included the following:

Aalto University Finland, Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University tie for first place for architecture.

Three universities have achieved the maximum number of points in the Architecture contest and are the winners of this prize. The team from Aalto University Finland and that of Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña together with Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University received their trophies at an award ceremony held at the Villa Solar.

The classification of the Architecture contest is as follows:

For more information, see the Solar Decathlon Europe Web site.

Richard King is the director of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon. Throughout the Solar Decathlon Europe competition, U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon organizers are reporting from Madrid.

The final stretch. Today is the last day for assembly at Solar Decathlon Europe. All houses must be completed, inspected, and connected to the power grid by this evening, or they cannot score points on the first day of competition. Some teams, such as Virginia Tech and Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences, are finished, but others, including the the University of Florida and the Instituto de Arquitectura Avanzada de Cataluña, still have a lot of work to do. I had dinner with a couple of the Florida team members last night, and they were upbeat about their prospects. As soon as Florida finishes its decking—hopefully today—it will be ready.

A Virginia Tech team member applies stain to the decking of Lumenhaus in preparation for the opening of Solar Decathlon Europe tomorrow.

Teams have to be ready because the opening ceremony is tomorrow, June 17, at 11 a.m. The minister of housing, Beatriz Corredor, will open the first Solar Decathlon Europe and then tour some of the houses, so everyone needs to be “show ready.”

The opening ceremony should be spectacular. We had a dress rehearsal this afternoon, and all the teams are excited. The plan is to individually introduce all the teams and then get them up on stage for a big group photograph.

The stage is being constructed on the Puente del Rey bridge, which crosses the Manzanares River. The stage has been placed strategically so the audience can see the opening activities onstage and all the houses along the north bank of the river.

The opening ceremony will include a short film, “From Washington to Madrid,” and speeches by three students who represent the three continents—Europe, Asia, and North America—from which the teams originate. Kathryn Watson, a journalism student from the University of Florida, will represent the United States.

The Madrid sun shines upon the Solar Decathlon Europe Villa Solar across the Manzanares River.

Everyone is working hard to make tomorrow’s opening ceremony a successful and memorable event. I am so proud of all the students, faculty, and organizers. There are no less than 600 people from around the world working together to make this one small village come alive.

Until tomorrow, wish us all good luck!

Richard King is the director of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon. Throughout the Solar Decathlon Europe competition, U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon organizers are reporting from Madrid.

The pace has really picked up today at Solar Decathlon Europe. Teams are working double-time because only 35 hours of construction time remain. The opening ceremony will begin Thursday morning at 11 a.m. to officially open the Villa Solar.

Some teams are behind and a bit concerned, but not Virginia Tech. It is the first team to have all its inspections—electrical, mechanical, safety, etc.—done. Go Hokies! The University of Florida is further behind because it started two days late, but the team has been working around the clock and seemed in reasonably good spirits this morning. Some of the Virginia Tech students, and one Finland team member, have been down to help out.

Team and country flags are flying everywhere. There are five teams from Spain; four from Germany; two from France, China, and the United States; and one each from England and Finland. That’s 17 in all, which results in a nice international display of teams and flags.

I finally got inside some of the houses this morning. The Team Finland house has magnificent woodworking. The walls, paneling, furniture, and floors are beautifully crafted by the students. They have designed the house to be zero net energy in Finland, so the house is well-insulated with four-pane windows and triple-pane doors. I also went inside the Cataluna house—the one that is raised up and rounded. All of its cabinetry, furniture, shelving, and furniture was machined back at school, and it all fits together perfectly. The team was installing its solar photovoltaic system, so I got a close-up of the flexible panels—the first of their kind. Each roughly 2 ft-by-2 ft panel is 17 watts and is easily installed into the roof with four self-tapping screws. The team does not know the total power of the array because one has never been built before.

The south side of the Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera’s house includes Corian walls with inlaid PV panels.

The opposite of these wood-crafted houses is the Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera’s (Spain) house, which is made out of Corian. We are all familiar with the kitchen countertops made from Corian. Well, this whole house is made from it! The students designed the house and went into the factory in Spain to cut and machine the large wall panels. The house is beautiful, and the pieces fit together very well. The presentation is quite impressive.

The judges who will evaluate these teams have a difficult challenge!

All in all, things are going well here. Until tomorrow, adiós.

Richard King is the director of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon. Throughout the Solar Decathlon Europe competition, U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon organizers are reporting from Madrid.

All overseas teams that have competed in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon have shipped their house sections in an international shipping container or made their house section the same size as one. This is very convenient because handling, lifting, and moving an international shipping container is relatively easy and no extra paperwork is required for transport on public roads.

However, Virginia Tech’s Lumenhaus has set a new standard for what is possible for overseas teams. Most teams in Solar Decathlon Europe have limited the size of their house modules or pieces to standard trucking dimensions or smaller. However, Lumenhaus is a single module that is 16 feet 2 inches wide and 66 feet long. Virginia Tech was able to roll its house on and off a ship. It took a little more planning to find a ship docks capable of handling its house, but the team did it. The roads in Spain accommodated the over-width house, although extra permits were required.

The University of Florida also moved large house sections to the Solar Decathlon Europe Villa Solar. Because the sections were assembled 25 kilometers from the Villa Solar, the team had to transport a very wide load across Madrid. But with only 10 days of assembly at the Solar Villa, this method extended the team’s time to construct the house in Spain.

A student from Brazil told me that his team had seriously considered shipping its house pieces by air. It seems there are a few large cargo planes that deliver equipment all around the world. From Brazil, shipping by air required less paperwork and had similar costs but was much quicker than ship. Unfortunately, Team Brazil withdrew from Solar Decathlon Europe, so this transportation method remains possible but untried. Seven Brazilian students and two faculty advisors came anyway to help the Solar Decathlon Europe organizers.

Byron Stafford is the site operations manager of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon. Throughout the Solar Decathlon Europe competition, U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon organizers are reporting from Madrid.