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The Solar Decathlon took place at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. from Oct. 12–20. The decathlon is an international competition among architecture students that takes place every two years. Based on a rigorous pre-selection process, the US Department of Energy picks teams of students from 20 schools of architecture worldwide who each spend two years researching, organizing, designing, fund-raising, constructing and operating an 800-square-foot single-family home, all of whose energy needs are met by solar power.

One of the selected 20 entries for the Solar Decathlon was from Boston: architecture students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, partnered with students from the Boston Architectural College, created a sustainable – and very livable – zero-energy house.



The MIT/BAC team placed 13th out of 20 teams in the Department of Energy competition to build a practical solar home. The Solar 7 house earned praise for its efficient use of solar energy. It placed eighth for engineering and sixth in a distance competition in which the team drove an electric car charged by the house. The house was one of seven to win full marks for using less energy than its solar panels generated.



“People come for all kinds of reasons,” said Kevin Horne, a BAC student, was one of the architects for the project. “But we’re all interested in sustainable architecture. [Solar Decathlon] gives us the chance to experiment, to play, to share ideas.”

The mission of the team’s solar home is to demonstrate the attractiveness and affordability of a solar home to the average consumer. It simultaneously empowers each citizen to positively impact energy society by providing non-intrusive but pervasive means to monitor energy usage within the home and its related environment.



The finished house was disassembled, trucked to Washington, D.C., and was reassembled in a solar village on the Washington Mall where it joined solar homes from 19 other universities. The student team lived in them for eight days and the houses, and the sponsors' exhibits, were open to the public for two weeks. At least 30,000 people were expected to pass through the house.

Teams competed in various categories and were evaluated for architecture, energy performance, and marketability. Aside from these categories, the students showed the judges the extent of their energy-efficient appliances. They had to accomplish various household chores, including cooking dinner for the judges; washing and drying a load of towels; and heating a shower's water to 110 degrees.

The Solar 7 house currently sits disassembled in storage in New Hampshire, and will be put up for sale.

The Solar Decathlon is sponsored by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the US Department of Energy, in partnership with its National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the American Institute of Architects, the National Association of Home Builders, BP, the DIY Network and Sprint.



For more information, please visit web.mit.edu/solardecathlon