DOE competition shapes students’ approach to solar home design

DOE competition shapes students’ approach to solar home design

As more and more world consumers look to construct energy-efficient homes, public institutions seem to be making moves to pave the way so that these projects can be properly carried out. One such government organization is the United States Department of Energy, which has taken to hosting so-called Solar Decathlons to promote green house designs.

According to the department’s website, this competition is held every other year. It is meant to encourage student groups from colleges throughout the world to not only come up with concepts for solar-powered homes, but also to actually build them.

The DOE has formulated this contest in such a way that it promotes the development of key green industry skills among the international youth population. For this reason, ensuring energy efficiency is not the only criterion for the structures entered in this challenge. Judges evaluate each student-constructed home, assessing how attractive it may be to consumers in terms of both affordability and appearance.

By making competitors take all of these factors into account, the organization aims to start instilling the value of these elements in students’ early on in their home design careers. In turn, aspiring architects and engineers will know to target these aspects of solar home construction further down the road.

Luckily, this year’s DOE Solar Decathlon went off without a hitch, despite initial concerns stemming from the government shutdown. The Weekly Standard reported that the 2-week suspension in many federal services caused some to question whether this government-run event would be impacted. However, the competition was held from Oct. 3 through Oct. 13, just as planned.

The department used its government funding from last year, in addition to donations made by private companies, to hold the Solar Decathlon. Students who spent the last 2 years designing and building their energy efficient homes were relieved to hear that all of their efforts weren’t all for naught.