Engineering Contest
Solar Decathlon 2011
(100 points)
The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011 houses represent the best of modern engineering. For the Engineering Contest, a jury of professional engineers evaluated each house for:
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Functionality
Did the house's energy and HVAC systems function as intended? -
Efficiency
How much energy would the house's systems save over the course of a year relative to conventional systems? Would the system controls facilitate a reduction in energy consumption during a year of operation? -
Innovation
Were unique approaches used to solve design challenges? Did the innovations have true market potential? -
Reliability
How long are the systems expected to operate at a high level of performance? How much maintenance is required to keep them operating at a high level? -
Documentation
Did the construction drawings, project manual, and audiovisual engineering presentation accurately reflect the constructed project as assembled on the competition site?
See the jury feedback for all teams.