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Photo of a man sitting on the floor of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette house kitchen. He is holding a roll of blue tape.

A member of the Solar Decathlon 2009 instrumentation team equips the University of Louisiana at Lafayette house with sensors to track its appliances' performance.

Solar Decathlon 2009

Appliances

(100 points)

The Appliances contest is designed to mimic the appliance use in the average U.S. home but using less energy. Points were earned for refrigerating and freezing food, washing and drying laundry, and running the dishwasher.

To earn points, student teams had to:

  • Maintain refrigerator temperature ranges within 34°F/1.11°C to 40°F/4.44°C.
  • Maintain freezer temperature ranges within -20°F/-28.9°C to 5°F/-1.5°C.
  • Wash and dry 10 loads of laundry during the contest week.
  • Run the dishwasher five times during the contest week.