The US may have lost in
soccer over the weekend, but we pulled out an incredible victory in the
European Solar Decathlon in Madrid!
Virginia Tech's elegant shape-shifting Lumenhaus received the grand prize for the most efficient solar home after ten days of competition against 16 other brilliant homes. Over the course of ten different contests, the
Lumenhaus steadily pulled ahead, earning a total of 811 points out of 10,000. It was a tough battle, and it's likely that the Lumenhaus' win in the Architecture competition pulled them through -- they barely beat out Germany's
IKAROS house by one point!
This the second time in one year that the team from Virginia Tech has competed with the Lumenhaus. Back at the US Solar Decathlon in October, the team finished 13th overall out of 20 teams with 704 points. In the ensuing months between October and May, the team tweaked and improved their overall design and even had a test run in Times Square before crossing the pond to Madrid. The design of the Lumenhaus is fantastic and was well received in DC as well as Madrid, taking home first place for architecture in a three-way tie and receiving a maximum of 120 points.
However overall, the Lumenhaus didn’t blow away their competitors in the other nine contests. Their well-roundedness is what brought home the win for Virginia Tech, although the University of Applied Sciences Rosenheim was hot on their heels with their IKAROS House and only lost by a single point. Jurors decided that the architecture of Lumenhaus was stronger than the IKAROS House, which earned them enough points to clinch the win. The IKAROS house earned superior marks for electricity balance and the use of their solar system.
[...] many green building strategies. Most notably, the home is totally net-zero and features a large pv system on the roof that supplies the majority of its year-round power needs. During the rainy season a [...]
[...] many green building strategies. Most notably, the home is totally net-zero and features a large pv system on the roof that supplies the majority of its year-round power needs. During the rainy season a [...]
Bravo to the Lumenhaus! I was lucky enough to attend Solar Decathlon Europe, and Va Tech\\\’s entry definitely stood out. The students stayed focused throughout the competition and pressed on to win! Go Hokies!
If I were European, I\’d be pissed. It was supposed to be that the winner of the 2009 US competition would be allowed to compete again in Europe, but VT said they\’d only compete in ours if they could again in Europe, which means they had time to perfect etc etc, which is a really unfair advantage.