The Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences celebrates its win in the Engineering and Construction contest.

The Germans and French ran away with the prestigious Engineering and Construction contest at Solar Decathlon Europe today. Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences was awarded first place, and Arts et Métiers Paris Tech took second.  A two-way tie was announced for third between the University of Applied Sciences Rosenheim and Ecole National Supérieure d’Architecture de Grenoble.

The jury members had high praise for the engineering excellence exhibited by all the teams and said even they learned a lot. They also said they were impressed by how many teams focused on the goal of “doing more with less.” That is the real challenge today for engineers, they said.

The Arts et Métiers Paris Tech team placed second in the Solar Decathlon Europe Engineering and Construction contest.

This following is from a Solar Decathlon Europe press release:

Solar Decathlon Europe has just awarded the prize for the Engineering and Construction contest in another ceremony at the Villa Solar.  Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences, with its solar house, … has just become the winner of this contest with 72 points, followed by Arts et Métiers Paris Tech with 66 points. École National Supérieure d’Architecture de Grenoble and University of Applied Sciences Rosenheim share the third position with 64 points.

The scores earned by the teams in this contest are:

Virginia Tech and the University of Florida did not fare well in the engineering contest. Virginia Tech was awarded 51 points and thirteenth place; Florida received 47 points for fourteenth place.  However, I think Virginia Tech remains in first place by a slim seven points. Too close for comfort!

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.

Ambassador Solomont visits the University of Florida team.

Ambassador Solomont poses with the Virginia Tech team on the deck of its house.

Today at 11 a.m., U.S. Ambassador to Spain Alan Solomont visited Solar Decathlon Europe.

Much to the delight of the U.S. teams, Ambassador Solomont toured the University of Florida house and then the Virginia Tech house. The ambassador also visited two Spanish teams: the Universidad de Sevilla and the Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera. Finally, he visited Tongji University’s Bamboo House. Ambassador Solomont praised the students and faculty and was very impressed by their work. He spent more than an hour and a half touring the houses.

As of this morning, Virginia Tech was 38 points in the lead! The team is thrilled to be in first place overall and is working hard to stay ahead of Ecole National Supérieure darchitecture de Grenoble, which is in second place. The French are proving to be tough competitors in their first competition.

This afternoon at 5 p.m., the awards for the Engineering contest will be announced. This is an important contest that will affect many of the teams, so stay tuned!

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.

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.

Sunday evening around 8 p.m., we had a special treat: a visit by 27 European Union ministers of housing! The ministers are in Madrid for a meeting of the European Union, so they took some time to visit Solar Decathlon Europe.

The village again had to be cleared for a security sweep, but the teams were happy to have such special visitors—especially so many at one time!

European Union ministers of housing visit the Villa Solar.

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.