Arts et Métiers Paris Tech Wins Solar Decathlon Europe Sustainability Contest
This afternoon at 5 p.m., the awards for the Sustainability contest were presented. Sustainability is one Solar Decathlon Europe contest that is not in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon. It is worth 120 points, and it evaluates how green a house is. Equal to the Architecture contest in points, Sustainability is a contest many European teams designed their houses around in the hopes of acquiring an advantage. For Arts et Métiers Paris Tech, its green roof and recycled materials really paid off. The University of Nottingham, with its high-density urban solution, took second place.
Here are the complete Sustainability scores, according to the Solar Decathlon Europe press release:
| Rank | Team | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arts et Métiers Paris Tech | 120 |
| 2 | University of Nottingham | 115 |
| 3 | Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences | 110 |
| 4 | École National Supérieure d'Architecture de Grenoble | 100 |
| 4 | Fanchhoschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin | 100 |
| 4 | Instituto de Arquitectura Avanzada de Cataluña | 100 |
| 7 | University of Applied Sciences Rosenheim | 95 |
| 7 | Bergische Universität Wuppertal | 95 |
| 7 | Aalto University Finland | 95 |
| 10 | Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera | 90 |
| 10 | University of Florida | 90 |
| 12 | Universidad Politécnica de Cataluña | 85 |
| 12 | Universidad de Sevilla | 85 |
| 12 | Universidad de Valladolid | 85 |
| 12 | Tongji University Shanghai | 85 |
| 16 | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University | 70 |
| 17 | Tianjin University | 60 |
The University of Florida and Virginia Tech did not do very well in the Sustainability contest. This is particularly understandable for Virginia Tech because it designed its house for the U.S. Solar Decathlon and not so much for the European competition. Florida ended up in eleventh place with 90 points out of 120, and Virginia Tech received 70 points and sixteenth place.
These results made a real competition out of Solar Decathlon Europe. Virginia Tech now leads the overall competition by only one point, and the top three teams are separated by only two points!
Tonight, all the teams will cook dinners for their neighbors. The dinner parties start at 9 p.m. and sound wonderful. The Spanish team members from Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera have invited me to have dinner with them and six other decathletes tonight. I can’t wait. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!
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.