Solar Decathlon 2011: Experimental houses open for judging

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The 2011 Solar Decathlon won’t announce its overall winners until Saturday, but the University of Maryland entry pictured above placed first Wednesday in the architectural design category. On Tuesday, a team from Purdue and a combined team from Parsons the New School for Design in New York and Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey tied for first in the affordability category. Their energy-efficient home designs were estimated to cost less than $250,000 to build.

Photos: Solar Decathlon 2011, the houses inside and out

The engineering judging will be announced Thursday. As about 20 teams rack up points in the U.S. Department of Energy’s biannual competition in Washington, D.C., Maryland has moved into the overall lead, followed by Ohio State, Purdue and Middlebury, pictured below.

Updated at 12:40 p.m.: In the Thursday judging of the engineering category, a New Zealand team from the Victoria University of Wellington placed first. The entry from the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles and Caltech in Pasadena took second.

In the overall standings, Maryland remained in first, Ohio State in second, Purdue in third. The SCI-Arc and Caltech team surged into fourth. More judging to come; look for final results over the weekend.

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/ U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon