The Solar Decathlon is a progressive competition, offered to selected universities across the nation and outside of the USA every other year, in which students from multiple disciplines design and build a home completely powered by the sun. The focus of the competition is to combine BIPV (Building Integrated PhotoVoltaics) with new energy efficient architecture and its engineering systems. The competition was initiated in 2002 by NREL/DOE in conjunction with major sponsorship by British Petroleum, and the official two-year cycle was continued as of 2005 (SD2005).
The Decathlon operates within the general goals of the Solar America Initiative of the DOE, to make photovoltaic solar energy cost-competitive with conventional energy forms by 2015 (levelized costs of $0.10/kWh for PV). A major focus is to encourage relations between Academia and Industry for integrated design of photovoltaics within standard building practices. However, it includes the incorporation of the project into the curriculum of the students, as well as their involvement with industry. The Decathlon is projected to continue until 2015.
The winner of SD2007 was: Technische Universität Darmstadt. That’s correct; Germany won the USA solar home competition on their first try (why shouldn’t the biggest PV player in Europe be a strong competitor?). Perhaps this was an appropriate challenge to wake up integrated PV education in the states.
My own new home, Penn State University, took 4th place on their first attempt, Morningstar Pennsylvania. We’re looking forward to the opportunity to return and improve upon that standing in SD2009. It’s a great opportunity for students and faculty alike, and all products displayed in the Solar Decathlon homes are commercially available, which will make the project pretty interesting as the competitions progress to 2015.
