The
assembly of 20 solar
homes on the National
Mall in Washington,
D.C., is approaching
completion, as the 2009
Solar Decathlon prepares
to open, free to the
public, on October 9th.
The Solar Decathlon is
an international event
in which DOE challenges
university teams to
design and build homes
that run entirely on
solar energy. The teams
ship their partially
constructed homes to the
National Mall, assemble
them, and then compete
in ten contests. These
challenges include
architecture,
engineering, market
viability,
communications, comfort,
appliances, water
heating, lighting, home
entertainment, as well
as a special two-part
net metering
competition, during
which teams are not only
rated on their energy
production, but receive
a bonus for producing
more energy than their
home consumes. The
overall winner will be
announced on October 16
for this fourth such
competition since 2002.
See the Solar
Decathlon's
Contests and Scoring
page.
The homes
will be open to the
public from October 9-13
and 15-18, and will be
open for tours from 11
a.m. to 3 p.m. on
weekdays and from 10
a.m. to 5 p.m. on
weekends. Over 800
student competitors from
the United States,
Canada, Spain, and
Germany, who have been
designing and building
since their teams were
chosen two years ago,
will compete in this
year's competition.
Students will have to
perform everyday tasks,
such as cooking, doing
the laundry, and even
washing dishes, to test
the energy efficiency of
their homes. To learn
more about the teams,
see the
Solar Decathlon team
page.
DOE is
the primary sponsor of
the 2009 Solar
Decathlon, which is also
sponsored and managed by
DOE's National Renewable
Energy Laboratory. See
the
event schedule and
sponsor information
on the Solar Decathlon
Web site.
