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The U.S. Department of Energy will not hold a BuildingsNEXT competition for the 2025–2026 academic year.
Future programming updates will be posted at www.energy.gov/eere/buildings/building-technologies-office as they become available.

The U.S. Department of Energy BuildingsNEXT™ Student Design Competition (formerly Solar Decathlon) is a collegiate competition that has inspired thousands of students worldwide to enter the energy workforce since its inception in 2002. The BuildingsNEXT Student Design Competition challenges students to design high-performance buildings that improve our quality of life through greater affordability, resilience, and energy efficiency. The winners are those teams that best blend architectural and engineering excellence with innovation. 

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