Participants for the 2012 edition of Solar Decathlon have recently been revealed. 20 teams representing 15 countries from four continents will be tasked with designing, building, and operating solar-powered houses that are cost-effective, energy-efficient, and attractive. The winner of the competition will be the team that best blends affordability, consumer appeal, and design excellence with optimal energy production and maximum efficiency.
The country with the greatest representation is Spain, boasting four teams from Valencia, the Basque Country, Catalonia and Andalusia. It so happens that the Andalusian contingent will comprise four universities: Seville, Granada, Malaga and Jaen. The only other nations with more than one university in the competition are Germany and France, with two each. The vast majority of projects are European, although Chinese and Japanese teams will represent Asia, Brazil the Americas; and Egypt, Africa.
Commenting on Solar Decathlon Europe 2012, the Spanish Secretary of State for Housing and Urban Development, Beatriz Corredor, said: "The marked increase in both participating countries and universities which applied to compete in SDE shows that Spain has become a benchmark for research into and the application of renewable energy in buildings, and implementing systems for energy efficiency in homes. We congratulate the 20 teams selected and hope to see R&D&I in its pure state in 2012".
Participants in the 2012 competition, in alphabetical order by country of origin, are:
- RWTH Aachen University, Germany - Konstanz University of Applied Sciences, Germany
- Team Brazil, Brazil (formed by Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina and Universidade de Sao Paulo)
- Tongji University, China
- Technical University of Denmark, Denmark
- American University in Cairo, Egypt
- Team Andalusia, Spain (formed by the University of Seville, University of Granada, University of Malaga, University of Jaen)
- CEU Cardenal Herrera University of Valencia, Spain
- University of the Basque Country (Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea), Spain
- Technical University of Catalonia (UPC), Spain
- Ecole Nationale Superieure d'Architecture de Grenoble, France
- Arts et Metiers ParisTech Bordeaux, France
- Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary
- Team Rome, Italy (formed by Università degli Studi di Roma TRE and Sapienza Università di Roma)
- Chiba University, Japan
- Norwegian University of Science and TEchnology, Norway
- Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
- Universidade do Porto, Portugal
- London Metropolitan University, UK
- Team Bucharest 2012, Romania (Consisting of "Ion Mincu" University of Architecture and Urbanism, Polytechnic University of Bucharest and Technical University of Civil Engineering of Bucharest)
"The level of the proposed projects is very high and SDE2012 will enable us to more quickly develop our understanding of efficient housing. Over the two years of competition, the participating teams will develop real solar homes, as seen in June 2010 in Madrid, and demonstrate to the international market that it is possible to compete with these technologies," explains Sergio Vega, Project Manager of Solar Decathlon Europe.
Solar Decathlon Europe was first held in Madrid last year and is organised by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, in collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) and supported by the US Department of Energy, which runs Solar Decathlon every two years in the States. Solar Decathlon Europe also counts on the cooperation of the City of Madrid and Spain’s Institute of Energy Diversification and Saving (IDAE), and is sponsored by: Saint-Gobain, as lead sponsor; Schneider Electric; Rockwool; Kömmerling; and FCC.
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