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Darmstadt über Alles
10/22/2007
In a competition that will surely serve as the plot for a future Broken Lizard film, Technische Universität Darmstadt this weekend won the overall 2007 Solar Decathlon, sponsored by the United States Department of Energy. Darmstadt was the sole German team in the international collegiate competition, which included teams from 17 American universities and one each from Spain and Canada.The Solar Decathlon pits student teams against one another to "design, build, and operate the most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered house." Students build houses that must be powered entirely by solar energy. Teams competed in the categories of architecture, engineering, market viability, communications, comfort, appliances, hot water, lighting, energy balance, and "getting around."
Darmstadt won the Architecture, Lighting, and Engineering competitions and also took overall first place for the team's "Passivhaus" ("passive house," for those of you whose mastery of German is not as sophisticated as mine). The haus emphasized technologies made or developed in Germany by companies like Bosch, which, according to the DoE, provided internships for two of the team members.
Partial interior of the Technische Universität Darmstadt's Passivhaus. Photo: Kaye Evans-Lutterodt/Solar Decathlon.
The Passivhaus was designed to meet the standards set by Passivhaus-Instituts with "a maximal annual heating demand of 15 kWh/m²a" and "total primary energy demand ... smaller than 120kWh/m²a," according to the team's site. The team said it expects the haus to be certified following its final installation in Darmstadt.
The University of Maryland took second place overall, winning first in the Communications competition and taking second in Architecture, Market Viability, and Lighting. The team also tied for first (with six other teams) in the Energy balance competition. Maryland's "LEAFHouse" featured a transformable interior, an indoor waterfall (for humidity control), and a Web-enabled sensor network for monitoring and controlling the house's environmental comfort.
U Maryland's LEAFhouse. Photo: Kaye Evans-Lutterodt/Solar Decathlon.
Santa Clara University came in third place overall and tied for first in Hot Water (with four other teams) and Energy Balance. Santa Clara created a "Ripple Home" (referring to the "ripple effect" in spreading the word about solar energy). It used sensors to measure interior and exterior conditions and adjust comfort levels with maximum efficiency.
Other teams participating in the Solar Decathlon included Carnegie Mellon University, Cornell University, Georgia Institute
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