Germany Takes First Place; Local Favorite Takes Second in Solar Decathlon

Summary: German design and engineering dominated in the 2007 Solar Decathlon as Technische Universität Darmstadt captured first place October 19 in the third DOE Solar Decathlon, cosponsored by the AIA. The local airwaves, however, were alive for the second-place entrant, the University of Maryland. The third placeholder was Santa Clara University.

With the contest coming down to the very last event—engineering—and local broadcasts mistakenly reporting a victory for the University of Maryland, the third Solar Decathlon provided an exciting end to the 17-day event, which was actually two years in the making. Multidisciplinary teams from 20 universities competed to see who could coax the most energy out of the sun to live comfortably within 800 square feet of well-designed home.

In its first appearance at the Department of Energy National Renewable Energy Laboratory Solar Decathlon competition, the German team took first place in both the design and engineering categories. The design jury commended the proportions and interior details of the home—which scored a premier 193.25 out of 200 possible points, and the team scored a first-place engineering score of 136.40 points out of 150. With first place also in lighting and energy balance, the team from Darmstadt scored a total of 1024.85 points, besting the University of Maryland by more than 25 points.

Teams are already organizing for the next Solar Decathlon, to be held in 2009. On October 18, the U.S. DOE and the Spain Undersecretary of Housing signed a memorandum of understanding to cosponsor a Solar Decathlon Europe, planned for Madrid in 2010.