In a press release, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Decathlon recently announced it has postponed its 2020 Solar Decathlon Build Challenge from June 2020 to April 16-18, 2021. The event, originally scheduled to be part of the 2020 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, will move from the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to the DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, CO, where it will coincide with the Solar Decathlon 2021 Design Challenge Competition. The 2022 Build Challenge will now take place in 2023.
The Solar Decathlon is a collegiate competition that challenges student teams to design and build highly efficient and innovative buildings powered by renewable energy. The Design Challenge is a one or two semester design-only competition, while the Build Challenge is a two-year design-build competition that is now transitioning to have all teams build their solutions in their own communities, rather than display full structures at a central event. The most successful teams will blend architectural and engineering excellence with innovation, market potential, building efficiency and smart energy production.
The Solar Decathlon continues to “push the envelope” on the design of the most highly performing, efficient, affordable innovative buildings. The competition leverages opportunities to showcase student innovation and STEM education, and it fosters workforce development opportunities.