Solar Decathlon Europe

About Solar Decathlon

    

 

The Solar Decathlon is an international competition organized by the U.S. Department of Energy in which universities from all over the world meet to design, build and operate anenergetically self-sufficient house, grid-connected, using solar energy as the only energy source and equipped with all of the technologies that permit maximum energy efficiency.
During the final phase of the competition each university team assembles their house at the National Mall in Washington DC, where houses are open to the general public, while undergoing the ten contests of the competition, reason for which this event is called Decathlon.

Solar Decathlon Europe

The Solar Decathlon Europe (SDE) was created through an agreement signed between the Ministry of Housing of the Government of Spain and the United States Government, in October 2007, who committed to organize a sustainable solar houses competition in Europe.
The document specified that the European competitions were to be held in alternate years from those in America.
The SDE Organization goal is to contribute to the knowledge and dissemination of industrialized, solar and sustainable housing, and therefore has the followings basic objectives:

o To raise awareness of the students participating in the competition on the benefits and opportunities offered by the use of renewable energies and sustainable construction, challenging them to think creatively and develop innovative solutions that contribute to energy savings and how it affects our everyday lives.

o To encourage the construction professionals to select materials and systems that reduces the environmental impact of a building over its entire lifetime, optimizing its economic viability and providing comfort and safety of occupants.

o To educate the general public about responsible energy use, renewable energy, energy efficiency, and the technologies available to help them reduce their energy consumption.

o To emphasize the correct order of intervention: first reducing the building energy consumption and increasing its energy efficiency; and afterwards integrating solar active systems and/or other renewable technologies. Moreover the building systems must be selected and dimensioned using environmental and cost-effective criteria.

o To encourage the use of solar technologies and other renewable energy sources.

o To promote architecturally attractive solar system integration, working on using the solar technologies to replace conventional construction materials in the building envelope such as the roof, skylights or facades.

o To clearly demonstrate that high performance solar homes can be comfortable, attractive and affordable.

    
 

Solar Decathlon Europe objectives are consistent with the European Union goals for 2020, and has demonstrated to be effective on making students, professionals and general public aware of the importance of the energy savings. This constitutes the most immediate and cost effective way of addressing the European energy challenges of sustainability, guaranteeing supply sources and competitiveness. The SDE participant houses present solutions that contribute to achieve the EU targets: saving 20% of the primary energy consumption, reducing 20% of greenhouse gas emissions and producing 20% of the energy from renewable resources.
Undoubtedly, the Solar Decathlon Europe brings prestige and raises the visibility of the selected participating universities; as they are part of the small group of top institutions that will compete in the world most important Solar House Event. One of the main characteristic of the European edition of the Solar Decathlon is its emphasis on sustainability, innovation and research. The participant teams work not only to develop and build their houses, but also to enhance the systems’ integration and generation of knowledge on sustainable construction.
Solar Decathlon Europe offers to the students a unique opportunity for learning, taking theory and putting it into practice, and doing so through a case study. Students working on the project will be challenged to use their innovation capacity, and their ability to design and build an energetically self-sufficient solar house. The projects are developed by multidisciplinary teams, giving the student the opportunity to learn not only about technical issues but also about teamwork, communication skills, a sustainable lifestyle and socio-economic issues in order to ensure the viability of their project.