2009-10-21 - The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon ended on October 18, conferring the first place to Team Germany and awarding the two Canadian teams in competition of remarkable fourth and sixth positions.

Twenty teams coming from the United-States, Europe and Canada were present at this fourth edition of the decathlon, held as usual at the Washington National Mall. For the participating teams, these 9 days of competition represent the highlight of two years of tremendous effort during which they worked at the design and accomplishment of a 800 ft² house having the particularity of producing at least as much energy as it consumes on an annual basis and that, using only solar energy. As opposed to the previous competitions, the 2009 edition requested that the houses be equipped with net-metering equipment and be connected to the electrical grid, eliminating the need for electricity storage.

Canada was represented by two teams during this competition: Team North bringing together students from University of Waterloo, Ryerson University and Simon Fraser University and Team Alberta consisting of University of Calgary, SAIT Polytechnic, Alberta College of Art and Design and Mount Royal College students. Team North greatly impressed by finishing in fourth position of the general ranking. The team performed consistently throughout the whole competition by finishing in the top 5 of 7 of the 10 tests they had to compete in and by obtaining the second position in the communications test. Team Alberta also distinguished itself by achieving the 6th rank in the global competition and getting the 5^th position in the home entertainment and comfort zone challenges.

The U.S. Solar Decathlon is an excellent opportunity to give architecture and engineering students hands-on experience in innovative design that targets net-zero energy solar homes. Therefore, CanmetENERGY is pleased to have provided financial support to document the results of the Canadian Solar Decathlon projects and would like to kindly congratulate the two Canadian teams.

For more information about the decathlon, visit the event , Team North  and Team Alberta  websites; and to learn more about our activities related to solar energy in buildings, visit the Solar Photovoltaic Energy in Buildings section of the website.