Resources for the Washington DC area

2005 Solar Decathlon in Washington DC
 

First off, many of the homes will be put to use somewhere. The University of Maryland's house will be donated to Red Wiggler Community Farm in Maryland and may be available for tours.

Secondly, The Department of Energy has a lot of information about the event of their website. Also, most of the schools have a wealth of information on their site.

The next Decathlon will be held in 2007. You should be able to follow the teams' progress on their websites. Many of the same schools participated in the first Decathlon, which was held in 2002. So hopefully, local teams U of MD and VA Tech will enter. Many schools house's are evolutionary. The students learn from their mistakes and they improve on the designs used in the previous competition. So as great as these house were, we can expect even more innovation and greater efficiency in capturing and using energy from the sun.

Many manufacturers, such as GE and California Closets, were willing to work with the students to custom make a product or building material to the schools' specifications. There will probably be an even greater cooperative effort as manufacturers realize the huge market for earth-friendly and sustainable products that's opening up. The Decathlon actually had a big turnout, and turned out to be a great showcase for manufacturers like Akso (appliances) and BP Solar (which is in Fredrick, MD).

You can see a very comprehensive list of products used by each of the schools here.

Oct. 2005