Last month the US Department of Energy (DOE) selected teams from 20 colleges and universities to take part in the 2013 Solar Decathlon at Orange County Great Park in Irvine, California. (A full list of schools can be seen below). The location for next year’s Decathlon marks a departure from previous ones which were held in Washington DC. Selected schools will build homes that are highly efficient in terms of energy use and incorporate solar power. According to the press release, over the next two years (the competition is biennial), the universities “will design, construct, and test their homes before reassembling them at the Solar Decathlon 2013 competition site.” These homes will be judged on criteria from 10 different categories and must “combine affordability, consumer appeal and design excellence.”
In the most recent rendition, the University of Maryland’s entry won the 2011 competition. Stephen Chu, the DOE’s director, is quoted in the release as saying that “we need to ensure that the next generation of America’s architects, engineers and entrepreneurs have the hands-on experience and training they need to lead our nation’s clean energy future.”
The Solar Decathlon provides students with the experience in green building, which is an important part of the exercise. This training and hands-on experience is key to supporting growth in sustainable housing.
The following teams have been selected from around the world to compete in Solar Decathlon 2013:
- Arizona State University and the University of New Mexico (Tempe, Ariz., and Albuquerque, N.M.)
- Czech Technical University (Prague, Czech Republic)
- Hampton University and Old Dominion University (Hampton and Norfolk, Va.)
- Middlebury College (Middlebury, Vt.)
- Missouri University of Science and Technology (Rolla, Mo.)
- Norwich University (Northfield, Vt.)
- Queens University, Carleton University, and Algonquin College (Kingston and Ottawa, Ontario, Canada)
- Santa Clara University (Santa Clara, Calif.)
- Southern California Institute of Architecture and California Institute of Technology (Los Angeles, Calif.)
- Stanford University (Palo Alto, Calif.)
- Stevens Institute of Technology (Hoboken, N.J.)
- The Catholic University of America, George Washington University, and American University (Washington, DC)
- The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (Charlotte, N.C.)
- The University of Texas at El Paso and El Paso Community College (El Paso, Texas)
- University of Calgary (Calgary, Alberta, Canada)
- University of Louisville, Ball State University and University of Kentucky (Louisville, Ky.; Muncie, Ind.; and Lexington, Ky.)
- University of Nevada Las Vegas (Las Vegas, Nev.)
- University of Southern California (Los Angeles, Calif.)
- Vienna University of Technology (Vienna, Austria)
- West Virginia University (Morgantown, W. Va.)
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