Solar Decathlon Blog - Awards

This article was originally published on the blog of Aurora Solar, a solar design and sales software company.

By Andrew Gong

Two weeks ago, during the Solar Decathlon 2017 competition, we explored the solar powered house designs from participating university teams. The designs showcased many creative and resourceful design strategies—and presented a fun challenge for modeling in Aurora.

With the competition now complete, today’s post takes a closer look at the top three teams to identify some of the solar design lessons from their success.

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By Ruby Theresa Nahan

If you read our They Build Through Rain, Sleet, Snow or Hail blog post, you’ll know that weather is officially Solar Decathlon’s unofficial 11^th contest. And we pretty much had it all—rain, sleet, snow, wind, and lots and lots of mud. It was the first time Solar Decathlon has ever seen snow, and good news—no hail! For the Weather Contest, we’re happy to report an 11-way tie. All 11 teams completed their houses, opened to the public, and participated in the competition.

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By Alexis Powers

Time flies when you’re having fun. It also warps when you are working hard. Here in the Solar Decathlon village, it’s been an absolute whirlwind of both ever since assembly began three weeks ago.

Today’s Solar Decathlon Minute packs one of the competition’s most exciting days into just 110 seconds. If that feels too fast to you, then check out the other 10 Minutes we’ve posted on our YouTube channel during the 2017 event. You’ll see highlights from each house, updates on each day’s activities, and even a dancing toilet.

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Prestigious Energy Competition Open for Final Weekend

DENVER, CO – Acting Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Daniel Simmons today announced the winning team of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Decathlon 2017 in Denver, Colorado. The Swiss Team took first place overall by designing, building, and operating the house that best blended smart energy production with innovation, market potential, and energy and water efficiency. The University of Maryland took second place followed by the University of California, Berkeley and University of Denver team in third place.

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By Ruby Theresa Nahan

The Swiss Team cleaned up today as they took first place in both the Architecture and Water Contests with their NeighborHub competition house.

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Stevens Institute of Technology won top honors overall at the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2015 by designing, building, and operating the most cost-effective, energy-efficient, and attractive solar powered house.

University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, took second place followed by California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, in third place. (more…)

At the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2015, Stevens Institute of Technology holds the lead after placing first in Market Appeal, Architecture, and Communications.

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Congratulations to Team Rhome from Universitá Degli Studi di Roma TRE, the winner of Solar Decathlon Europe 2014! The team’s Rhome for Dencity house received first place overall in the final award ceremony of the competition Saturday evening in Versailles, France.

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The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2013 won first place in the special events category in the National Association of Government Communicators (NAGC) Blue Pencil and Gold Screen Awards Competition. The award was announced last week during a reception and banquet at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

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The Norwich University Solar Decathlon 2013 team received the Byron Stafford Award of Distinction at the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2013 Victory Reception on Oct. 12.Presented by Solar Decathlon Director Richard King’s wife, Melissa, the award is a tribute to Byron Stafford, who served as the event’s site operations manager from the first Solar Decathlon in 2002 until his death in May. A National Renewable Energy Laboratory senior scientist, Stafford was instrumental in formulating the competition rules and was dedicated to ensuring a safe competition and public exhibit. In 2009, his team installed the first Solar Decathlon village microgrid to distribute energy safely and reliably among the competition houses and to the utility grid.

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The people have spoken. Today, UrbanEden, the solar-powered house from The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, won the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2013 People’s Choice Award.

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Czech Technical University took first place in the highly competitive Architecture Contest and Vienna University of Technology received top honors in the Communications Contest this morning at the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2013.

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At an awards ceremony this morning, winners of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2013 Affordability and Market Appeal contests took center stage by demonstrating that innovative, energy-efficient houses can be cost-effective and appealing to a variety of target markets.

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I am proud to be an American—and prouder yet to be an employee of the U.S. Department of Energy. We brought an inspiring and beneficial competition to the People’s Republic of China! By the end of the event, a quarter-million people will visit the competition houses displayed at Solar Decathlon China. The event has made a real impression on the government and people of Datong. I hope it leads to positive change.

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Solar Decathlon Europe organizers accept the Sustainable Energy Europe Award for Communicating. (Courtesy of the European Union Sustainable Energy Week)

Solar Decathlon Europe was honored last week by the European Commission with a Sustainable Energy Europe Award in the Communicating category. The annual awards reward best-in-class initiatives that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency in the European Union. More than 300 initiatives were considered in this year’s competition.

The Communicating category recognizes projects “that create awareness about … energy challenges, that change perceptions, and that bring about endorsement of energy efficiency and/or renewable energy.”

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