Solar Decathlon Trains Tomorrows Engineers, Architects In The Design Of Solar Thermal Systems

Visitors tour the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011 in Washington, D.C., Sept. 30, 2011, with Arlington, Va., left, and the Lincoln Memorial, right, in the background. (Photo credit: Stefano Paltera/U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon.)

More than 4,000 students from universities around the world have descended on the National Mall’s West Potomac Park to showcase the highly energy efficient solar-powered houses they created for the DOE Solar Decathlon 2011, which kicked off Sept. 22 and runs through Oct. 2. Basically, this is an educational opportunity for future engineers and architects to design, build and operate solar houses that are not only energy efficient, but also attractive and easy to live in. It’s also an opportunity for the thousands of people expected to tour the 10 homes over 10 days.

While solar PV is usually the star of the show, many of the teams included solar hot water systems in their homes. And new this year is an affordability contest, which rewards teams that build houses with estimated costs at or below $250,000. The teams have to perform everyday tasks - such as cooking, laundry and washing dishes - to test the energy efficiency of their houses.

The contest results are not in yet - you can check the website at www.solardecathlon.gov.

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Kelly Faloon was a former editor of Plumbing & Mechanical as well as the BNP Media Plumbing Group’s Integrated Content Development Specialist. She also was a former editor of the Radiant Comfort Guide the Radiant & Hydronics Report — both official publications of the Radiant Professionals Alliance — and twice-monthly Radiant & Hydronics eNews, an enewsletter for anyone interested in the world of heating with hot water.

Her editorial specialties included women in plumbing, recruiting for the trades, green construction techniques, water conservation, water treatment, hydronic heating, radiant heating and cooling, snow melt, solar thermal and geothermal.

After a 3½-year stint at sister publication Supply House Times, Faloon joined the PM staff in December 2001 as senior editor. She was named PM’s managing editor in 2006 and editor in 2013.

Previously, she spent nearly 10 years at CCH, a publishing firm specializing in business and tax law, where she wore many hats — proofreader, writer/editor for a daily tax publication, and Internal Revenue Code editor.

A native of Michigan’s northern Lower Peninsula, Faloon is a 1986 journalism graduate of Michigan State University.