By Carol Laurie
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!
By Carol Laurie
On Aug. 28, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid visited DesertSol—the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) house that won second place overall in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2013. Now located permanently at the Springs Preserve in central Las Vegas, Nevada, DesertSol has been one of the Preserve’s most popular attractions since it opened to the public in March 2014.
By Carol Laurie
Matthew O’Kelly lives the benefits of his U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon experience.
O’Kelly participated twice in the Solar Decathlon—first as the HVAC engineer for The Ohio State University (OSU) 2009 team and then as the project engineer for the OSU 2011 team. Since then, O’Kelly has not only established a successful design career but also been instrumental in developing a patent-pending technology that began with the OSU 2011 competition house.
By Carol Laurie
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.
By Alexis Powers and Carol Laurie
Editor’s Note: This post is one of a series of technology spotlights that introduces common technologies used in U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon team houses.
Good ventilation is vital for maintaining healthy indoor air quality. Houses built to modern energy efficiency standards, such as U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon competition houses, are tightly constructed to allow very little outside air to leak in. As a result, odors, chemicals, particles, and humidity can become trapped, increasing indoor air pollution.
By Carol Laurie
A house is just a building until people live in it. Then it becomes a home.
Although U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon houses are not lived in during competition, Solar Decathlon visitors may ask themselves whether they could be comfortable homes when stepping through their thresholds.
Carol Laurie
David Schieren is the chief executive officer of a leading Long Island, New York, solar engineering and installation company. He’s also a U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon alumnus and outspoken advocate for the competition.
By Carol Laurie
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.
By Carol Laurie
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.
By Carol Laurie
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.
By Maureen Clapper
A brand new city sprang up—almost overnight—about 15 miles southwest of Paris. You won’t find a cookie-cutter template for design here, as each house is unique in function, form, and style. The one thing all of the houses have in common is they are designed, built, and tested to operate on pure, green, and clean solar energy.
By Carol Laurie
What do the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2015 teams have up their sleeves? Our new 2015 team pages will give you an idea of what’s in store. The teams have submitted their first house designs to competition organizers, and we’re giving you a glimpse of what’s planned.
By Meredith Tunick
When I arrived onsite yesterday, Solar Decathlon Europe 2014 student teams were in the middle of the final phase of heavy construction of their self-designed and self-built project houses. The scene was filled with intense energy as students—fully equipped with hard hats, steel-toed boots, and safety gear—moved around their construction sites in a sort of synchronized dance of home production. The air smelled of dirt, lumber, and teamwork.
By Carol Laurie
Since the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2009, a temporary, ground-laid electrical grid (or “microgrid”) has connected Solar Decathlon houses with one another and the local utility. The village microgrid allows excess power generated by the houses’ solar electric systems to be sent back to the larger city utility grid and its customers. The microgrid also enables the competition houses to draw energy from the utility when consumption exceeds production.
By Carol Laurie
On June 28, 20 competition houses from 17 countries and three continents open to visitors in La Cité du Soleil—Solar Decathlon Europe’s solar city in Versailles, France.
