Department of Energy Solar Decathlon® is a collegiate competition that prepares the next generation of building professionals to design and build high-performance, low-carbon buildings powered by renewables. Finalist Teams in the current Build Challenge cycle have completed their designs and are now starting construction, exhibiting their groundbreaking houses in local communities across the world in April 2023. Interested teams are encouraged to participate in the 2023 Design Challenge to gain experience and prepare their design. The Build Challenge typically runs for two years and culminates with teams presenting zero-energy houses constructed in their communities. Interested in going beyond design by constructing a zero-energy house during your undergraduate or graduate studies? The Solar Decathlon Build Challenge will reopen for applications in July 2023.

April 2023: Finalist Teams present to industry leaders virtually or at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado awards are presented to winners.

February 2023: Virtual Semifinal Competition Event for teams to showcase their preliminary designs to earn one of 10 finalist spots in each division.

Fall/winter 2022: Initial deliverables due.

October 26, 2022: All teams must register by this date to participate.

July 2022: Solar Decathlon Design Challenge Rules are released, and teams may begin work.

Teams can participate in any of the following divisions:Ĭollegiate institutions can have multiple teams (but only one team per division) and can partner with other schools. The 2023 Design Challenge Rules are now available and provide details for each of the 10 contests that make up the Decathlon. To be a part of the 2023 Design Challenge, register today, gather your multidisciplinary collegiate team, and start your project! Team registrations close on October 26, 2022, at 5:00 p.m. “To change that, we need to revolutionize the ways we design, build, operate, and renovate buildings, and the Solar Decathlon provides collegiate students with an unrivaled opportunity to do just that.” “Buildings account for 35% of the nation’s carbon emissions, but they don’t have to,” said Holly Jamesen Carr, Director of the Solar Decathlon in the Building Technologies Office. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon® collegiate competition.Īs part of the Solar Decathlon 2023 Design Challenge, top collegiate students from across the globe compete to design sustainable, high-performance, low-carbon buildings powered by renewables. This week the Department of Energy announced that the 2015 Solar Decathlon will again be sited at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, California ( link).Want to design a zero-energy building while still in school? Register now and form a 2023 Design Challenge team to develop sustainable building expertise and tackle real-world problems through the U.S. Traditionally, the Decathlon was held in Washington, DC, but moved to Irvine for the 2013 contest.

In Irvine in October, the average temperature is 64 ˚F, practically room temperature! (In Washington, DC in October, the average temperature is cooler, though still mild at 59˚F.) This is a significant and disappointing decision because it confirms that the contest is about solar electricity, not solar heating. I'm a big supporter of solar electricity, to be sure, but passive solar heating ought to be central to the challenge and to the definition of a 'solar house' and a 'net-zero' house.

Most of the places in the US are not like Irvine in October they have significant heating demands that can be reduced through passive solar design. To design an 800-square foot house in Irvine that will use net-zero energy for a week in October is frankly not very difficult. Why not hold the contest in Minneapolis a month later? Perhaps because passive solar heating implies the need for thermal mass, which is contradictory to the need for the houses to be lightweight and transportable. This is the fundamental paradox of the Solar Decathlon.Īs I wrote in The Solar House, the Solar Decathlon has always been oriented to the promotion of PV systems, and it has always endured criticism for failing to reward passive strategies. But with the decision to return to Irvine, the organizers have raised the stakes by going all-in for solar electricity.

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