Competition Intensifies at Solar Decathlon Europe
Too close to call! Virginia Tech had a commanding 35-point lead at Solar Decathlon Europe earlier this week, but the University of Applied Sciences Rosenheim has cut that lead to only six points now. With only today and tomorrow left to score performance-based points, everything the teams do—from hot water draws to cooking to washing to cooling their houses—really makes a difference. Every point counts.
The current leaders’ scores are:
| Virginia Tech | 449 |
| University of Applied Sciences Rosenheim | 443 |
| Ecole National Supérieure d’Architecture de Grenoble | 438 |
| Aalto University | 413 |
| Bergische Universität Wuppertal | 406 |
| University of Florida | 396 |
| Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences | 395 |
All the juries have now gone through the houses and made their evaluations. As of today, there are three more subjective contests to be awarded:
| Sustainability | Thursday at 5 p.m. |
| Innovation | Friday at 9 p.m. |
| Solar Systems and Hot Water | Sunday at 7 p.m. |
The organizers are holding the last announcement (Solar Systems and Hot Water) until just before the final, overall award ceremony to provide drama and excitement. As you can see, this competition is still too close to call.
The people’s choice award will be announced Saturday evening, so if you haven’t voted for your favorite team yet, you are running out of time! You can vote at www.sdeurope.org.
On another note, as we move into the final days of competition, it has become hot! We started out with rain and cool temperatures, but now it is very hot and sunny. Every day has brought perfectly clear, cloudless skies. The teams have been producing large surpluses of electricity. The city of Madrid is happy to have all the extra power!
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.