From the Heart
Sunday, October 2, 2011By Richard King
Thank you. To everyone who worked to make Solar Decathlon 2011 a success, you have my sincere thank you.
Below you will find Solar Decathlon news from the Solar Decathlon 2011 archive, sorted by date.
By Richard King
Thank you. To everyone who worked to make Solar Decathlon 2011 a success, you have my sincere thank you.
By Carol Anna
Appalachian State University won the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011 People’s Choice Award for its Solar Homestead today. This award gives the public the opportunity to vote for its favorite house. This year, 92,538 votes were cast. The award was announced at a Victory Reception in the solar Village in West Potomac Park—the last official event of Solar Decathlon 2011.
By Carol Anna
The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011 isn’t over yet! Tomorrow—Sunday, Oct. 2—is the last day the public can visit the solar village. And there’s plenty to do!
By Carol Anna
Consistently appearing in first place in overall standings throughout the competition, the University of Maryland won the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced the competition results today before an excited audience that packed the main tent in the solar village.
By Carol Anna
With exemplary communications materials, public tours, and website, Middlebury College received first place in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon Communications Contest today.
By Joe Simon
U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon organizers have corrected the Affordability Contest results after discovering a minor error in the scoring spreadsheet calculations.
By Carol Anna
Wowing jurors with its attention to detail, craftsmanship, and unusual energy visualization system, New Zealand (Victoria University of Wellington) received first place today in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011 Engineering Contest for its First Light house.
By Alexis Powers
How do you identify the measured contest captain on each U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon team? Listen for words such as datalogger, monitored performance subcontest, and database-driven scoring application.
Carol Anna
Of the 10 contests that make up the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011, five are juried:
In juried contests, jurors who are experts in their fields evaluate each house and award points for features that cannot be measured.
“What I loved most about the Communications jurors was how thoughtful they were in their deliberations,” says Terri Jones, Communications Contest official. “It’s not just that they took their job seriously; it’s that they wanted to do it right and honor the teams’ efforts.”
By Carol Anna
Before a packed auditorium today at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, the University of Maryland took first place in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon Architecture Contest.
Alexis Powers
It may seem like all work all the time for the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon’s student decathletes, but one contest brings teams together to earn points while relaxing and interacting with one another.
By Alexis Powers
The next generation of solar innovators continued to arrive by the busload to the solar village in West Potomac Park today. Between Monday, Sept. 26, and Tuesday, Sept. 27, more than 66 buses brought local eighth-grade students to learn about energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies.
By Carol Anna
Note: Corrections to the Affordability Contest results were announced Sept. 30, 2011.
Proving that the cost of “going green” is decreasing, two teams tied for first place in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011 Affordability Contest. Parsons The New School for Design and Stevens Institute of Technology (which includes Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy at The New School) built Empowerhouse for less than $230,000. Purdue University’s INhome came in at just less than $250,000. These teams earned 100 points for achieving a target construction cost of $250,000 or less, as evaluated by a professional cost estimator.
By Phil West
Like many of you, I have assembled everything from dining room tables to bunk beds with an Allen wrench and a beverage-stained set of black-and-white line drawings. I’ve even drilled new holes, convinced that the instructions had to be wrong, only to find out I had the board upside down—or inside out—or otherwise got caught up in some sort of “Tab A into Slot B” kerfuffle.
Alexis Powers
The big buzz word in Washington, D.C., these days is budget. In the solar village at West Potomac Park, cost savings are top of mind for the decathletes as well.