25. Jun 2010 - Solar Decathlon Europe: Competition on the home stretch

Abstract

At the international Solar Decathlon Europe building competition, points were awarded yesterday in the Sustainability discipline. The German university team from Stuttgart managed to gain third place. With the points already awarded in the disciplines Architecture, Planning and Construction and Communication and Marketing Potential, the intermediate results are as follows: the team from Rosenheim University of Applied Sciences in Germany is in third place just behind the Spanish team from Barcelona and the US team from Virginia, and is thus well placed in terms of the overall scoring.

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Yesterday was a hot day in Madrid. With 35°C in the shade on the banks of the Rio Manzanares on a 30,000-m2 site opposite the Spanish Royal Palace, the buildings had to prove their coolness. Despite the queues of visitors, the buildings’ small sizes and the exclusion of mechanical ventilation, the indoor temperatures in the buildings managed to remain at a bearable level. Depending on the building and room, the indoor temperatures ranged between 24°C and 28°C; these are very good values given the conditions.

In accordance with the points awarded so far, the current overall rankings in the competition are as follows: In first place is the team from the Instituto de Arquitectura Avanzada de Cataluña (Spain) followed in second place by the team from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute (USA). Just behind them are the German teams with Rosenheim University of Applied Sciences in third place, Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences in fourth place, the University of Wuppertal in sixth place and the Berlin University of Applied Sciences in ninth place. Points are still to be awarded for the prototype buildings’ energy balance and innovativeness. On Sunday the overall winner will be announced along with the rankings for the other teams.

Public voting

The public’s opinion is also being asked for in this competition, whereby you can award points for the buildings. You can find out about the buildings on the homepage of Solar Decathlon Europe. You can vote by clicking on the middle field entitled ‘Vote for your favourite house online …’. Note: The German buildings in the competition have the start numbers 5 (Rosenheim), 6 (Wuppertal), 11 (Stuttgart) and 15 (Berlin).