Solar Decathlon Blog - Solar Decathlon 2015

Calling all clean energy companies! You are invited to participate in the Innovation Pavilion at the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2015. A consumer exhibit for clean energy products and services, the 50-booth Innovation Pavilion will be located next to the Solar Decathlon village, where visitors will pass on their way to and from the student-designed competition houses.

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The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon is pleased to announce that Schneider Electric has signed on as a Solar Decathlon 2015 sustaining sponsor. A sustaining sponsor since 2009, Schneider Electric will provide the engineering design and supplemental equipment for our microgrid—a temporary, two-way power flow electrical system to interconnect the Solar Decathlon village and collegiate team competition houses. The company is also supplying the engineering design, hardware, software, and operation of the electrical microgrid monitoring system, which provides data for contest scoring.

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The 5,500-mile distance from Austin, Texas, to Munich, Germany, melts away with NexusHaus, a U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2015 project that combines students from the United States and Europe.

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Upstate Buffalo, New York, isn’t typically associated with gardens. More people probably envision Buffalo covered in the lake-effect snow of frigid Lake Erie than in greenery.

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U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon Director Richard King today announced that Team Tennessee, comprising Vanderbilt University and Middle Tennessee State University, has withdrawn from the Solar Decathlon 2015 competition.

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Wells Fargo has returned as a sustaining sponsor of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon, becoming the first sponsor to confirm sustaining-level support for Solar Decathlon 2015.

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It’s not easy to get 50 people to work together, meet deadlines, and exchange ideas on a long-term project. Sometimes, it feels like assembling a jigsaw puzzle. As the Clemson University team designed the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2015 project it calls Indigo Pine, that “puzzle” mentality may have influenced its approach.

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The aroma of Italian cooking will waft from STILE, the West Virginia University and University of Roma Tor Vergata entry in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2015, during the team’s dinner parties. Those meals will showcase the Italian influence on this partnership between West Virginian and Italian cultures.

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The countdown begins! On Jan. 9 and 10, some 250 U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2015 students, faculty, and organizers gathered in Irvine, California, for a workshop that served as the backdrop for a weekend of comradery and intense information download.

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You can make a difference. That was the message of Solar Decathlon Director Richard King in his Sept. 19 TEDxOrangeCoast talk about the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon.

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U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon Director Richard King today announced that Stanford University has withdrawn from the Solar Decathlon 2015 competition.

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If you’re ready for another glimpse into what the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2015 teams are up to, check out our updated 2015 team pages. They now include links to the teams’ own websites!

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The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon captures the attention of millions of people worldwide. As partners of the event, Solar Decathlon sponsors share this spotlight and gain outstanding exposure—onsite, online, in print, and over the air.

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U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon sponsors know a good thing when they see it. After all, the Solar Decathlon is more than an award-winning competition and highly popular public exhibit. It’s also a proven workforce development program that prepares collegiate students for careers in clean energy. The Solar Decathlon uses blended methods (including classroom instruction and real-world application) to teach science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) for building systems design and operation.

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Not consuming energy is better than buying or producing it—even when that energy is generated by clean, renewable solar. That’s the message the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2015 is sending to decathletes through the Energy Balance Contest, which measures the energy each team house produces and consumes over the course of the competition.

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