Monday, October 12, 2009 at 2:37:17 PM - by Nate Lew

For three weeks in October, the U.S. Department of Energy offers students in colleges and universities around the world the opportunity to display solar energy technologies in fully-working model homes.

The event takes place on the National Mall, an area in Washington D.C. that marks a central axis bounded by Constitution Avenue, Pennsylvania Avenue, Maryland Avenue, and First Street on the east.

This year’s event takes place from October 8 to the 21, with the first week given over to the actual contest, the next nine days to home tours for the general public, and the final three days for disassembling the homes. Homes are open for viewing from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays, and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends, with the exception of Oct. 14.

The Solar Decathlon offers homeowners and other interested parties a bird’s-eye view of the best in solar electric devices, energy efficiency techniques and overall home design. The objective of each competing team is to design and build a house that offers near-zero or zero-energy design implementation.

These architecture and engineering students, from such prestigious universities as Penn State, have been building and testing the various features in their homes for two full years. The results are astonishing; the promise for future energy-creating and saving devices borne out through a trial-and-error process that can quickly be translated into future building-product manufacturing lines.

Twenty homes are on display, with teams from the U.S., Canada, Spain, Germany, and Puerto Rico ready to show how advances in technology can reduce the nation’s need for foreign oil imports, fossil-fuel electricity generation, and the kinds of energy inefficiency that, daily, add 30 percent or more to the country’s necessary energy supply. Though primarily designed to showcase solar energy technologies, homes also highlight the importance of integrated building design, where all the components that make up a house work together to create a more comfortable yet energy-efficient space that reduces an occupant’s carbon footprint.

The homes on display will connect to a “microgrid”, feeding excess electricity to the local (D.C.) power grid. All are designed to run off their own solar arrays, and are judged in 10 categories, including lighting and architectural highlights, as well as the overall market viability of each unit or feature. The categories are: architecture, market viability, engineering, lighting design, communications, comfort zone, hot water, appliances, home entertainment, and net metering.

Some are constructed with readily available materials; others are so innovative they represent design paradigms. An example would be the German team’s solar clapboard design which integrates a super-insulating material on the inside face of the boards – a development which won the competition in 2007.

Visitors will also be able to see heat pumps, micro-inverters, insulation made from recycled denim, and building automation systems which allow whole-house programming (rather like an interactive Smart Meter) from a touch-screen or a smartphone.