Virginia Tech team wins two category competitions at Solar Decathlon 2005

A house designed and built by a team of students from Virginia Tech’s College of Architecture and Urban Studies and College of Engineering has won two individual category competitions at Solar Decathlon 2005, a national competition sponsored by the Department of Energy being held this week on the Mall in Washington, D.C. The two first place awards were in the categories of “Best Architecture” and “Best Dwelling.”

The 18 solar decathlon teams were charged with designing and building attractive, high-performance houses that integrate solar energy efficiency technologies seamlessly into the homes’ designs. The architecture prize-winning team had to have produced a delightful, functional home that incorporates the newest energy technologies. Winning the architecture prize gives Virginia Tech the greatest number of points awarded for one category in the decathlon.

To compete for the dwelling prize, the winning team had to have produced a buildable, livable home. The spaces must have been designed for regular household tasks, such as getting laundry done and working from home, and in such a way that would be easy for other builders to reproduce and be attractive to home buyers.

The combined total of points awarded to the Virginia Tech team to date in the Solar Decathlon competition places the team in first place. Others categories are announced every day at the decathlon and the grand prize winner is to be announced on Friday, Oct. 14.

For updates on the Solar Decathlon, go to http://www.eere.energy.gov/solar_decathlon.