Germany Wins Solar-House Battle

20 homes soak off the sun’s rays on Washington D.C.’s National Mall. They need all the energy they can get to power everything from ventilation systems to home entertainment centers. It’s required in the recent Solar Decathlon sponsored by the US department of energy.

“The Solar Decathlon is a competition for university schools of architecture and engineering to design, from the ground up, a solar-powered, high-efficiency, self–sustaining house.”

Take water from the ground at 40 to 50 degrees.

Over several days, student teams are judged across 10 events from design to whether the house would sell in the house market. The winning house was created by Team Germany. The Team Germany home is covered in thin solar panels, giving the house a shiny black appearance with a twist.

“We have photovoltaic panels across all sides of the house, and in between as a design, second design element, we have colorful acrylic（丙烯酸）pieces to kind of open the house up. We lovingly call them sun freckles.”

The design-to-construction process takes 2 years, this is the 4th Solar Decathlon and the next one will be held in 2011.



The event draws around 100,000 visitors to the national mall where students show up their designs while making the pitch for energy-efficient technologies like solar and using recycled goods for building material.

All 20 homes will live on. Some are headed back to university campuses for housing and research. Others will be donated for use of various organizations and two are for sale.