By Ruby Theresa Nahan

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="4" gal_title="Swiss Sweep Architecture and Water Contests!"]

Solar Decathlon Open to the Public Today through Sunday, October 15, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

DENVER, CO – Before an enthusiastic crowd near the 61^st and Peña Station in Denver, Colorado, the Swiss team took first place with a perfect score of 100 points in the highly competitive Architecture Contest, and also clinched top honors in the Water Contest at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Decathlon 2017. For the Architecture Contest, the students were judged on the design and construction of attractive, high-performance houses that integrate renewable energy systems and energy-saving technologies. In the new Water Contest, teams were evaluated on how well their houses conserve water, enable reclamation and reuse, and integrate low-water landscaping. The 10 contests that make up the Solar Decathlon encourage teams to design and build comfortable, solar-powered, innovative houses that combine highly energy- and water-efficient construction designs, appliances and renewable energy systems.

New contest data displays are now available on the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon website. If you are interested in the real-time performance of each house and want to keep a close eye on the competition, check out the Contests section pages.

I am proud to be an American—and prouder yet to be an employee of the U.S. Department of Energy. We brought an inspiring and beneficial competition to the People’s Republic of China! By the end of the event, a quarter-million people will visit the competition houses displayed at Solar Decathlon China. The event has made a real impression on the government and people of Datong. I hope it leads to positive change.

How do you identify the measured contest captain on each U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon team? Listen for words such as datalogger, monitored performance subcontest, and database-driven scoring application.