Collegiate Teams Showcase Innovative Solar Houses in International Competition

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DENVER, CO – Eleven teams involving hundreds of collegiate students from the United States and Europe have assembled at the 61st and Peña Station in Denver, Colorado, to showcase their highly energy-efficient, innovation-packed solar houses for the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2017 (see photos here). This signature Energy Department event is making its debut in Denver after successful runs in Washington, D.C., and Orange County, California. Today’s opening ceremony, headlined by U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette, kicked off the highly anticipated international competition that shows consumers how to save money and energy with affordable energy products that are available today.

You can make a difference. That was the message of Solar Decathlon Director Richard King in his Sept. 19 TEDxOrangeCoast talk about the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon.

The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon captures the attention of millions of people worldwide. As partners of the event, Solar Decathlon sponsors share this spotlight and gain outstanding exposure—onsite, online, in print, and over the air.

The Solar Decathlon teams have been nominated for a TreeHugger’s  Readers’ Choice Award—and they need your vote to win.

TreeHugger, part of Discovery’s Planet Green initiative, is asking its readers to vote for “the people, ideas, projects, and memes that are pushing green into the mainstream” as part of its Readers’ Choice Awards Best of Green 2011. The Solar Decathlon teams have been nominated as a group in the Design and Architecture category.

Virginia Tech’s U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2009 entry, Lumenhaus, traveled to New York’s Times Square this week, where it wowed passersby and wooed audiences on ABC's “Good Morning America.”

Watch a video clip of “Good Morning America” weather anchor Sam Champion interviewing Virginia Tech team member Chip Clark, or see additional photos of Lumenhaus in Times Square on Flickr.

The next stop on the house’s tour will be Madrid, Spain, to compete in Solar Decathlon Europe this June.