Green Energy: Solar Home Competition Scheduled

Have you heard of the Solar Decathlon?  If you get to Washington, D.C. you won’t want to miss the Solar Decathlon in 2009.  This is a contest in which 20 colleges from around the world are chosen to compete in a solar home building competition.  Each team will be responsible for building a home of approximately 800 square feet that is completely powered by solar energy.

To submit an entry for the competition, colleges must submit a preliminary plan for the solar home.  Each will be reviewed and the best 20 plans will be chosen.  The students and teachers involved will be from all sorts of majors of study like architecture, engineering, interior design, and marketing.  The homes must be marketable to the public upon completion.

Each home will be about 800 square feet in design and must utilize solar electricity, solar water heating, and solar thermal energy.  The homes must be able to maintain a specific temperature and must produce enough electricity for the normal consumption of a family that might live in the home.  This includes enough electricity to power an electric car.

The homes must be publicly marketable, too.  The Solar Decathlon’s 20 homes will be on display for guests to browse through each home to get ideas of things they can do to go green in their own homes, as well as to generate interest in the purchase of new solar homes.  The architecture must be pleasing and usable, and the interior decorating must be inviting and livable.  There are a lot of different aspects that need to be implemented into the Solar Decathlon homes.

It is believed that the Solar Decathlons will help to move renewable energy homes to the marketplace at a faster rate.  The first of these events was held in 2002, then in 2005 and again in 2007.  2009 will be the fourth Solar Decathlon, and undoubtedly the best one yet.  The dates for the 2009 Solar Village exhibition have not been set yet, but they have been traditionally open to the public in mid-October.  If you are interested in attending it is recommended that you allow two full days to see all of the houses.  You won’t be sorry you did.