Archive for September, 2011
Friday, September 30, 2011
By Carol Anna
With exemplary communications materials, public tours, and website, Middlebury College received first place in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon Communications Contest today.
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Tags: Appalachian State, Communications, Competition, Contests, Maryland, Middlebury College, Solar Decathlon, Solar Decathlon 2011, Teams
Friday, September 30, 2011
By Joe Simon
U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon organizers have corrected the Affordability Contest results after discovering a minor error in the scoring spreadsheet calculations.
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Tags: Affordability, Competition, Contests, Solar Decathlon, Solar Decathlon 2011
Thursday, September 29, 2011
By Carol Anna
Wowing jurors with its attention to detail, craftsmanship, and unusual energy visualization system, New Zealand (Victoria University of Wellington) received first place today in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011 Engineering Contest for its First Light house.
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Tags: Competition, Contests, Engineering, New Zealand, SCI-Arc/Caltech, Solar Decathlon, Solar Decathlon 2011, Teams, Tennessee
Thursday, September 29, 2011
By Alexis Powers
How do you identify the measured contest captain on each U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon team? Listen for words such as datalogger, monitored performance subcontest, and database-driven scoring application.
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Tags: Appliances, Comfort Zone, Competition, Contests, Energy Balance, Home Entertainment, Hot Water, Solar Decathlon 2011
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Carol Anna
Of the 10 contests that make up the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011, five are juried:
- Architecture
- Engineering
- Communications
- Affordability
- Market Appeal.
In juried contests, jurors who are experts in their fields evaluate each house and award points for features that cannot be measured.
“What I loved most about the Communications jurors was how thoughtful they were in their deliberations,” says Terri Jones, Communications Contest official. “It’s not just that they took their job seriously; it’s that they wanted to do it right and honor the teams’ efforts.”
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Tags: Communications, Contests, Solar Decathlon, Solar Decathlon 2011
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
By Carol Anna
Before a packed auditorium today at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, the University of Maryland took first place in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon Architecture Contest.
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Tags: Appalachian State, Architecture, Competition, Contests, Maryland, New Zealand, Solar Decathlon, Solar Decathlon 2011, Teams
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Alexis Powers
It may seem like all work all the time for the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon’s student decathletes, but one contest brings teams together to earn points while relaxing and interacting with one another.
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Tags: Competition, Contests, Home Entertainment, Middlebury College, Solar Decathlon, Solar Decathlon 2011, Teams
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
By Alexis Powers
The next generation of solar innovators continued to arrive by the busload to the solar village in West Potomac Park today. Between Monday, Sept. 26, and Tuesday, Sept. 27, more than 66 buses brought local eighth-grade students to learn about energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies.
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Tags: Events, Solar Decathlon, Solar Decathlon 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
By Carol Anna
Note: Corrections to the Affordability Contest results were announced Sept. 30, 2011.
Proving that the cost of “going green” is decreasing, two teams tied for first place in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011 Affordability Contest. Parsons The New School for Design and Stevens Institute of Technology (which includes Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy at The New School) built Empowerhouse for less than $230,000. Purdue University’s INhome came in at just less than $250,000. These teams earned 100 points for achieving a target construction cost of $250,000 or less, as evaluated by a professional cost estimator.
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Tags: Affordability, Competition, Contests, Parsons NS Stevens, Purdue, SCI-Arc/Caltech, Solar Decathlon, Solar Decathlon 2011, Team Belgium
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
By Phil West
Like many of you, I have assembled everything from dining room tables to bunk beds with an Allen wrench and a beverage-stained set of black-and-white line drawings. I’ve even drilled new holes, convinced that the instructions had to be wrong, only to find out I had the board upside down—or inside out—or otherwise got caught up in some sort of “Tab A into Slot B” kerfuffle.
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Tags: Solar Decathlon, Solar Decathlon 2011, Team Belgium, Teams
Monday, September 26, 2011
Alexis Powers
The big buzz word in Washington, D.C., these days is budget. In the solar village at West Potomac Park, cost savings are top of mind for the decathletes as well.
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Tags: Affordability, Competition, Contests, Solar Decathlon, Solar Decathlon 2011
Sunday, September 25, 2011
By Alexis Powers
If you’ve been to the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon, chances are you’ve benefited from the guidance of a volunteer. These yellow-shirted, high-spirited individuals are strategically placed throughout the solar village to answer questions from visitors.
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Tags: Solar Decathlon, Solar Decathlon 2011
Sunday, September 25, 2011
We are four days into the competition, and the standings are extremely close. Normally, we would begin to see some separation, but the first- and second-place teams are just a point apart, and the total separation from top to bottom is only 20 points out of 1000. If this was a horse race, we’d need a speed camera to tell who is in the lead!
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Tags: Competition, Solar Decathlon, Solar Decathlon 2011
Saturday, September 24, 2011
By Alexis Powers
The typical college student does about two loads of laundry a week. However, the student decathletes must go above and beyond this amount to earn full points for the Appliances Contest. In this contest, teams prove that their houses are not just energy-efficient but also fully functional.
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Tags: Appliances, Competition, Contests, Solar Decathlon, Solar Decathlon 2011
Saturday, September 24, 2011
By Alexis Powers
Transportation options to West Potomac Park are like energy-efficient home solutions: diverse, plentiful, and readily available.
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Tags: Solar Decathlon, Solar Decathlon 2011