| Every other year, the U.S. Energy Department | | | | working on their projects: |
| holds a solar decathlon for teams from various | | | | California Polytechnic State University |
| universities around the world. The winning team | | | | Carnegie Mellon University |
| receives a $100,000 grant over two years. | | | | Cornell University |
| A Contest of a Different Sort | | | | Georgia Institute of Technology |
| The solar decathlon is an interesting strategy for | | | | Kansas State University |
| promoting research and development on solar | | | | Lawrence Technological University |
| technology by the Energy Department. The | | | | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Department selects 20 teams from a bevy of | | | | New York Institute of Technology |
| applicants to take part. | | | | Team Montreal |
| To win the competition, the teams are given the | | | | Technische Universität Darmstadt, |
| goal of creating and manufacturing a home that | | | | Texas A&M University |
| runs completely on solar power. The home must | | | | Pennsylvania State University |
| function as a residence as well as a home-based | | | | Universidad de Puerto Rico |
| business and all typical transportation needs | | | | Universidad Politécnica de Madrid |
| typically found with a residential home. The teams | | | | University of Cincinnati |
| are not only required to design and build the | | | | University of Colorado |
| home, but they must construct the homes on the | | | | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
| National Mall in Washington, D.C. for all to see. The | | | | University of Maryland |
| most energy efficient home wins the competition | | | | University of Missouri-Rolla, |
| and the university is awarded $100,000 for | | | | University of Texas at Austin |
| research and development of solar technologies. | | | | The teams are due to build their homes on the |
| In 2005, the University of Colorado was the | | | | National Mall on October 7, 2007. With the new |
| winner of the competition with Cornell and Cal | | | | interest of the Bush Administration in solar power, |
| Poly finishing second and third. It was the second | | | | perhaps the contest will get a Presidential visit. |
| win in a row for Colorado over such schools as | | | | Rick Chapo is with - a directory of solar energy |
| MIT and Cal Poly. The teams for the 2007 | | | | companies. Visit us to read more articles about |
| competition have been selected and are currently | | | | the solar decathlon and solar water splitting. |