Posts Tagged ‘Teams’

Editor’s Note: This entry has been cross-posted from DOE’s Energy Blog.

In honor of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon—which challenges 20 collegiate teams to design, build, and operate solar-powered houses that are cost-effective, energy-efficient, and attractive—we are profiling each of the 20 teams participating in the competition. For our latest story, we spoke with Michelle Marcovits of Florida International University about the team’s design—called the perFORM[D]ance House. (more…)

Editor’s Note: This entry has been cross-posted from DOE’s Energy Blog.

In honor of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon—which challenges 20 collegiate teams to design, build, and operate solar-powered houses that are cost-effective, energy-efficient, and attractive—we are profiling each of the 20 teams participating in the competition.

(more…)

Editor’s Note: This entry has been cross-posted from DOE’s Energy Blog.

In honor of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon—which challenges 20 collegiate teams to design, build, and operate solar-powered houses that are cost-effective, energy-efficient, and attractive—we are profiling each of the 20 teams participating in the competition.

(more…)

Solar Decathlon Europe has announced the 20 teams that will participate in its 2012 competition. The teams hail from 15 countries and 4 continents.

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Representatives of the teams selected to compete in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011 will travel to Orlando, Florida, in January 2011 for the International Builders’ Show (IBS). Sponsored by the National Association of Home Builders, the IBS is the largest annual construction conference in the world.

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Congratulations to the Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences team for filling its house full of innovative technology. Today, points were awarded by all the juries at Solar Decathlon Europe for innovation. These points were added up to determine the winners of the Innovation contest.

At this afternoon’s award ceremony, the first-, second-, and third-place teams were announced. However, the points are being kept secret until Sunday evening to add suspense. But with the overall standings so very close—the top three teams (Virginia Tech, École National Supérieure d’Architecture de Grenoble, and the University of Applied Sciences Rosenheim) are within a few points of one another—who needs more suspense? (more…)

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.

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Too close to call! Virginia Tech had a commanding 35-point lead at Solar Decathlon Europe earlier this week, but the University of Applied Sciences Rosenheim has cut that lead to only six points now. With only today and tomorrow left to score performance-based points, everything the teams do—from hot water draws to cooking to washing to cooling their houses—really makes a difference. Every point counts.

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The Germans and French ran away with the prestigious Engineering and Construction contest at Solar Decathlon Europe today. Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences was awarded first place, and Arts et Métiers Paris Tech took second.  A two-way tie was announced for third between the University of Applied Sciences Rosenheim and Ecole National Supérieure d’Architecture de Grenoble.

The jury members had high praise for the engineering excellence exhibited by all the teams and said even they learned a lot. They also said they were impressed by how many teams focused on the goal of “doing more with less.” That is the real challenge today for engineers, they said. (more…)

Today at 11 a.m., U.S. Ambassador to Spain Alan Solomont visited Solar Decathlon Europe.

Much to the delight of the U.S. teams, Ambassador Solomont toured the University of Florida house and then the Virginia Tech house. The ambassador also visited two Spanish teams: the Universidad de Sevilla and the Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera. Finally, he visited Tongji University’s Bamboo House. Ambassador Solomont praised the students and faculty and was very impressed by their work. He spent more than an hour and a half touring the houses. (more…)

Virginia Tech is in first place at Solar Decathlon Europe—and it was judged first in the Architecture contest! What a busy weekend for the Virginia decathletes. They worked their way up from third place on Saturday to take first place Sunday based on solid performance in the measured contests. Lumenhaus has performed almost perfectly so far. (more…)

The real measure of success is: If you build it, will they come? This is the first time a Solar Decathlon is being held in Madrid, so one never really knows if the people will like it until the doors open to public visits on the first day. At 11 a.m., people were waiting to get into the village, and it wasn’t long before lines of people were waiting to get inside the houses. It is very gratifying to see the public interest. I assume, because today is Friday, we will see larger crowds this weekend. Congratulations to everyone involved. The hard work and dedication has produced a successful event!

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As the sun rose brightly over the Villa Solar, I could feel the excitement building among the decathletes—for in just a few hours, the first Solar Decathlon Europe would have its historic opening. After last-minute cleaning up, decathletes emerged from their houses dressed in team uniforms and lined up in front of the stage. (more…)

As dusk fell Wednesday evening on the Solar Decathlon Europe Villa Solar, Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences became the first team to finish building its house and have it ready for visitors. The University of Applied Sciences Rosenheim followed closely behind. Both German teams were jubilant and glad to finally have time to rest and appreciate their accomplishments.

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.

The final stretch. Today is the last day for assembly at Solar Decathlon Europe. All houses must be completed, inspected, and connected to the power grid by this evening, or they cannot score points on the first day of competition. Some teams, such as Virginia Tech and Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences, are finished, but others, including the the University of Florida and the Instituto de Arquitectura Avanzada de Cataluña, still have a lot of work to do. I had dinner with a couple of the Florida team members last night, and they were upbeat about their prospects. As soon as Florida finishes its decking—hopefully today—it will be ready. (more…)