Solar Decathlon 2005

Daily Journal — October 12, 2005

The Lighting contest is not yet final, but Lighting Contest jurors awarded points today for the daylighting and electrical lighting segments of that contest. Ideally, lighting design incorporates both ambient and task lighting, electric, and natural daylighting for energy efficiency and occupant comfort. The panel of lighting designers who evaluated overall lighting design—aesthetics, innovation, and annual performance—toured the homes to look at lighting during the day and at night. The judging panel included Sandra Stashik of Grenald Waldron Associates, Gary Steffy of Gary Steffy Lighting Design, Inc., and Howard Brandston of Brandston Partnership, Inc.

In the daylighting portion of the contest, University of Maryland and University of Texas tied for third place. California Polytechnic State University took second place and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University took first. In the electrical lighting portion of the contest, Pittsburgh Synergy took third place, Texas took second and Rhode Island School of Design tied with Virginia for first place.

After the Lighting Panel made their announcements this morning, the teams returned to quiet homes. The houses were closed to visitors today so that measurements could be taken for one "typical" heating and cooling day—that is with about four people in the house rather than hundreds of visitors. The teams design their homes to remain a steady, uniform temperature and humidity throughout. Full points for this contest are awarded to teams that maintain narrow temperature (72-76 degrees) and relative humidity (40-55 percent) ranges inside the house.

Finally, it was moving day at the Decathlon, with several teams making a run and moving up in the standings. This morning's scoreboard revealed that Universidad Politécnica de Madrid had moved up one place and the Canadian team and University of Maryland had each moved up four places since yesterday. Colorado had moved from fifth to second. As night fell tonight and teams began reporting readings, Colorado moved into first place, after having driven their electric car 80 miles today. At 8:00 pm, Washington, D.C. time, Colorado was ahead of Cal Poly, by 10 points, and only five points separated Cal Poly from Cornell, the third place team. The top teams are in a dead heat and strategy is getting thick. The electronic scoreboard is an exciting place to gather as the contest results and measurements come in. I can't wait to see what the scoreboard reveals in the morning.

Reporting from the village,
Richard King, Department of Energy