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Title
Build Challenge
Subtitle
2007
Location
Washington, D.C.
Date Start
October 12
Date End
 - 20, 2007

Daily Journal - October 21, 2007

Click photo to view a larger image.

Photo of a solar house, with two men in hard hats working on the roof; the Washington Monument is in the background. Photo showing two men in hard hats standing on a platform sitting atop a scissors lift, reaching up and taking apart a wooden lattice-work on the roof of the solar home.

Two University of Texas team members need the scissors lift to reach the framework around their house's roof.

Photo showing the exterior of a solar home, with the porch and landscaping removed and team members taking a break in the front yard.

While it's a bit sad to watch the dismantling of beautiful structures like the Santa Clara University home, we can look forward to a new village in 2009.

Solar Decathlon 2007

Disassembling the Village

Faster than it went up, it seems, the village starts to come down. As of 10 p.m. last night, the 2007 Solar Decathlon shifted into disassembly mode. The Decathlon teams, site operations, security, safety, and everyone else are all back on 24-hour schedules. The cranes and scissor lifts are back, as are the tractor-trailer rigs and other forms of heavy transport. The activity will be nonstop until all traces of this year's event have been removed from the National Mall by tomorrow.

Now is a good time to offer our many thanks to everyone who participated in the 2007 Solar Decathlon and to all those who worked so hard to make the event possible. From the decathletes who built the homes, to the organizers and workers, and especially to the hundreds of volunteers who tirelessly greeted the tens of thousands of visitors who came to the village over the past two weeks, a heartfelt thank you. We couldn't have succeeded without all of you.

Thank you also to all the readers of this journal for following this amazing event; this incredible story of achievement. There is a unique story for every single person who participated in the event. The people in these stories are phenomenal—motivated students, professors, workers, families, leaders, and the adoring public. But it does not end here. Their stories and the story of the Solar Decathlon will continue as we all look forward to the 2009 competition with a new set of teams, yet to be chosen.

This story simply has no ending—it's an ongoing, unfolding drama of stellar achievement—and a future of endless possibilities.