One of the coolest government sponsored programs on earth is the Solar Decathlon, created by and sponsored by US Department of Energy. Universities from around the world compete in the event with student teams designing and building zero net energy, sustainable homes for the future.
The event is so popular (and so cool) that this year Europe organized a Solar Decathlon - Europe.
Links to US and European events below. Here are the main goals.
- To educate the general public on renewable energy, energy efficiency and the technologies available to help them reduce their energy consumption.
- To encourage the use of solar technologies and to distribute them more quickly to the market
- To raise awareness of the students participating in the competition of the various benefits and possibilities of using renewable energies and energy efficient construction, challenging them to think creatively about energy and how it affects our everyday lives.
- To clearly demonstrate that solar houses can be built without sacrificing energy efficiency or comfort, and that they can be both attractive and affordable.
US Solar Decathlon. US Solar Decathlon will be next year 2011 and 2013.
Europe's Solar Decathlon. June 2010. Just finished with next one scheduled for 2014.
Shout out toHuffington Post for giving European Solar Decathalon some press as it is totally ignored by US media since it represents great government, means to build a sustainable future and college kids doing great stuff, none of which interests US media. Some quick pics at the Huffington link.
The great thing about the Europeans picking up the format in partnership with US Department of Energy is that it doubled the numbers of schools that can participate and we see 40 schools vs. just 20 schools building the homes of the future.
US could have built 3,000,000 homes using Solar Decathlon design vs. war for oil in Middle East over last eight years. Enough to cut US greenhouse gas emissions by 1%. Not to mention the resulting jobs and industry from engineering to equipment to sustainable building materials to construction labor.