University of Maryland wins 2011 Solar Decathlon
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The University of Maryland won the 2011 Solar Decathlon on Saturday afternoon, beating students from Purdue, a New Zealand team and a combined entry from Caltech and the Southern California Institute of Architecture in the U.S. Department of Energy’s biannual design competition.
Photos: 41-image gallery of the Solar Decathlon entries
Maryland’s entry, pictured above, earned about 951.2 points out of 1,000 from judges scoring criteria such as architectural merit, engineering and affordability of construction. The house’s photovoltaic and solar thermal arrays can harness the sun to provide all of its power and to heat all of its water, and it also has been designed to filter storm water and recycle gray water.
Purdue, the Indiana school whose entry is shown at right, finished second with 931.4 points. The Victoria University of Wellington, whose entry is pictured below, finished third with 919.1 points. The Caltech and SCI-Arc team finished sixth with 899.5 points.
Nineteen teams competed, and complete Solar Decathlon final standings are posted on the event’s site.
Maryland’s solar decathletes rejoice upon news of their win.
The Maryland team’s house in daylight.
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-- Craig Nakano
/ U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon
