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Solar Decathlon: Sunshine of Your Life |
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Dr. Samuel Says -
Smart Design
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Written by Dr. Samuel Centralia, Ph.D., D.D.S., Esq.
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Wednesday, 17 October 2007 |
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Live-blogging today from beautiful downtown Washington D.C., where the 2007 Solar Decathlon is underway on the grounds of the National Mall. I always enjoy my trips back to the nation's capitol. There's a certain feeling in the air, an aroma almost -- a charged, electric, sometimes overpowering scent … of power! Either that or they're fertilizing the South Lawn again, I can never tell….
Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Solar Decathlon is a
competition-slash-exhibition in which 20 college teams from around the
world competing to design and build the coolest, smartest, most
energy-efficient solar-powered house. This year, students from Maryland
to Montreal to Madrid are competing. The 20 teams transport their solar
houses to the competition site on the National Mall and rebuild them in
the "Solar Village." This is the third Solar Decathlon, following
events in 2002 and 2005.
So what goes into designing and building a house for the Solar Village?
Glad you asked. According to the DOE FAQ (viva acronyms), the student
teams spend almost two years designing and building their approximately
800-square-foot homes and preparing for the event. During the 10-day
competition, students test their homes in contests approximating the
day-to-day ways in which we use energy in our homes. Contests range
from architecture, livability, and comfort to how well the homes
perform tasks such as heating water and powering appliances. Each team
must also provide enough solar electricity to power an electric car.
Why a decathlon? Again, glad you asked. Such incisive questions! It's
because the competition is based around 10 individual contests:
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Architecture — 200 points
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Engineering — 150 points
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Market Viability — 150 points
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Communications — 100 points
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Comfort Zone — 100 points
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Appliances — 100 points
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Hot Water — 100 points
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Lighting — 100 points
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Energy Balance — 100 points
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Getting Around — 100 points
Today is judging day, and as of right now, the University of Maryland
holds a slight lead over Germany's Darmstadt University of Technology.
Judging continues, however, and final results won't be in until Friday.
Competition is fierce, and frankly, the suspense is killing me. This is
what you get when you pack several hundred hypersmart eco-geeks into an
open public space for a week. You can check the leader board here,
updated every 15 minutes. Gambling on an event such as this is, of
course, unseemly and frowned upon. That said, Go Penn State!
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