U.S.
Department of Energy Secretary
Steven Chu
announced Jan. 26 the 20 collegiate teams selected to compete in the DOE’s
Solar Decathlon 2013 and unveiled the
competition’s location, the Orange County Great
Park in Irvine, Calif.
Since 2002, the National Mall in Washington
has been the venue for five successful Solar Decathlons. For 2013, Solar
Decathlon organizers decided to extend the competition’s reach beyond Washington and showcase
energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies to a new group of visitors
and sponsors.
The
Orange County
Great Park,
located between Los Angeles and San Diego, is a dynamic venue that can
accommodate the 20 competition houses and the special needs of the Solar
Decathlon event — flexible space, ample visitor parking, existing facilities
for large special events and nearby services for visitors. With direct freeway
and rail access and generally favorable weather conditions, the park also will
ensure that residents across Southern California
have an opportunity to experience the Solar Decathlon.
The
20 teams from colleges and universities across the United States and from
around the world will now begin a two-year process to build solar-powered,
highly energy-efficient homes that combine affordability, consumer appeal and
design excellence — highlighting renewable energy systems and energy-efficient
technologies, products and appliances that are already available to homeowners.
Throughout the two-year process, the teams will design, construct and test
their homes before reassembling them at the Solar Decathlon 2013 competition
site.
The
following teams have been selected to compete in Solar Decathlon 2013:
-
Arizona State
University and the University of New Mexico
(Tempe, Ariz.,
and Albuquerque, N.M.)
-
Czech Technical
University (Prague, Czech Republic)
-
Hampton University
and Old Dominion
University (Hampton
and Norfolk, Va.)
-
Middlebury College
(Middlebury, Vt.)
-
Missouri University of Science and Technology
(Rolla, Mo.)
-
Norwich University
(Northfield, Vt.)
-
Queens University,
Carleton University
and Algonquin College
(Kingston and Ottawa, Ontario, Canada)
-
Santa Clara University
(Santa Clara, Calif.)
-
Southern California Institute of Architecture and California
Institute of Technology (Los Angeles)
-
Stanford University
(Palo Alto, Calif.)
-
Stevens Institute of Technology (Hoboken,
N.J.)
-
The Catholic University of America, George
Washington University
and American University (Washington)
-
The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (Charlotte, N.C.)
-
The University of Texas at El Paso and El Paso Community College (El Paso,
Texas)
-
University of Calgary
(Calgary, Alberta,
Canada)
-
University of Louisville, Ball State University and University of Kentucky
(Louisville, Ky.; Muncie, Ind.;
and Lexington, Ky.)
-
University of Nevada
Las Vegas (Las Vegas)
-
University of Southern
California (Los
Angeles)
-
Vienna University of Technology (Vienna, Austria)
-
West Virginia University
(Morgantown, W. Va.)
Follow
the progress of Solar Decathlon 2013 on
Facebook
and
Twitter.
For
a recap of the 2011 Solar Decathlon, click
here.
