Oct.
13, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Click Here for Photos
of the Cal Poly Solar Decathlon Team in Washington D.C.
CONTACT:
Ray Ladd
Contact: Ray Ladd
(805) 756-7432, rladd@calpoly.edu
Cal Poly Solar Decathlon Team In Second So Far in D.C. Competition;
Final Results to Be Announced Friday Morning
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Cal Poly's Solar Decathlon team of architecture, engineering, construction management and communications students has entered the final day of the week-long competition in second place.
The international competition is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy; participating universities from across the United States, Canada and Europe designed and built energy-efficient, solar-powered houses to enter. The students had to transport all their materials to Washington, D.C., and build them on the Capitol Mall. The houses are completely powered by solar energy; in addition, the solar setup for each home must power an electric car.
This is the first year Cal Poly has entered the competition, and Cal Poly's is the only entry from the West Coast.
The competition scoring is similar to a track meet: different aspects of design and construction have been judged on each successive day of the competition, with teams awarded points in each category.
The Mustang team, under the direction of faculty advisors Sandra Stannard and Robert Pena, hare consistently held second place throughout the week, with Virginia Tech, University of Colorado and Cornell jockeying for first, then falling below Cal Poly.
Final results will be announced Friday, Oct. 14, in Washington D.C. at 11 a.m. Pacific Time/2 p.m. Eastern time.
Click
Here
to read the Los Angeles Times Story on the Solar
Decathlon and the Cal Poly team
Click
Here
to read the San Luis Obispo Tribune story on the Solar
Decathlon
Photos
of the Cal Poly Solar Decathlon Team in Washington D.C.
For
more details Click Here
to read the Solar Decathlon Web page about
Cal Poly's entry.
Cal Poly's Solar Decathlon team first built the university entry on campus, before transporting it in segments to Washington, D.C. At left is the solar house under construction on campus in September. The entry was made possible by generous donations from industry partners, sponsors and alumni.
Once
finished, Cal Poly's solar house and finishing materials were loaded
on to a truck (right) and hauled from San Luis Obispo to Washington
D.C. Along the way, the truck and its cargo were hit by a car --
causing some damage to the solar house that the team had to repair
in Washington D.C.
The
Cal Poly team assembled the house on its spot on the National Mall,
below.
Michelle
Hamilton, fifth year architecture student, does a late night paint
touch up on a redwood screen around a portion of the solar house
that is Cal Poly's entry in the Solar Decathlon competition now
going on in Washington D.C., on the Capitol Mall. The screen, made
from redwood harvested at Cal Poly's Swanton
Pacific Ranch in Santa Cruz, California, has been certified
as sustainably
harvested by the Forest Stewardship Council. The screen will
serve as a trellis and will extend into a sunshade of the same material
on the south side of the home.
With the finishing touches in place, Cal Poly was ready for visits from judges and the public (below).
Though the weather was sunny during construction of the solar entries, the skies turned cloudy and rain came at the start of the competition.
Student teams from around the world pose for a photo of the completed Solar Decathlon houses on the mall (below) with The Smithsonian Institution in the background.
The
opening day of the Solar Decathlon drew crowds, in addition to competition
judges (right). The public also had the opportunity to go inside
the solar houses -- including those pictured below in front of Cal
Poly's solar house.
In one of many
categories in the Solar Decathlon, teams were judged on how well
they communicated about their entry and the features of their solar
home. Cal Poly's entry included informational panels outside the
home.
Overall, Cal
Poly has remained in second place throughout the international competition,
only a handful of points away from the top spot.
In individual categories, Cal Poly took second place in both the Architecture Contest and the Dwelling Contest. Jurors on the Dwelling panel praised the house for its simplicity and elegant divisions of interior space.
Check back for the final results!
All photos courtesy Solar Decathlon, including photographer Stefano Paltera