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Virginia Tech, Solar Decathlon Europe, Winner!

Team Virginia Tech recently won Solar Decathlon Europe in Madrid, Spain. This victory was especially sweet, as this was their first victory in 4 Solar Decathlons. It was a tight race though. As a matter of fact, it was the closest margin of victory in a Solar Decathlon. Virginia Tech won by less than a point!

1. Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University - 811.83 pts
2. University of Applied Sciences Rosenheim - 810.96 pts
3. Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences - 807.49 pts

This was the inaugural European Solar Decathlon. It was estimated that they had over 190,000 visitors go through the homes, so it had a larger public response than the Solar Decathlon on the National Mall in Washington.

One of the amazing factoids from the competition: 6,177 kWh were produced and 2,579 kWh were consumed by 17 solar villas. So they produced almost 3 times more energy than they used during the 10 day competition. That is an amazing stat that shows how architecture and good design can literally change the world.

Luminhaus, VT's solar villa, has some cool features:
Radiant heating in the concrete floors, smart phone applications that allow the user to track and manipulate the energy use of the house (turn on and off lights, lock and unlock doors, open and close sun shades), ability to hibernate when occupant is away thus reducing energy use, unique transportation abilities that allow the house to be moved without a flatbed.

If you are interested in participating in Solar Decathlon 2013, click here