Forty teams from collegiate institutions within the U.S. and around the world are advancing to the final stage of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Decathlon 2024 Design Challenge in which teams submit zero energy building designs for residential and commercial projects across four categories: single-family housing, attached housing, multifamily building, or education building, the DOE has announced. Ten finalist teams were selected in each division.
Members of each institution's interdisciplinary team work together to create innovative, high-performance building designs that address real-world issues related to climate change, affordability, and environmental justice. Finalist teams were selected at the semifinal competition event held virtually on Feb. 23-24 based on how well entrants address the 10 Solar Decathlon contests, which include architecture, engineering, envelope, grid interactivity, lifecycle, and other topics.
The selected teams will now compete to win their division. The Decathlon's overall winner will be announced during the Solar Decathlon Competition Event on April 19-21, 2024, at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., which will be live-streamed on April 21, 2024, at 11 a.m. Eastern Time.
“Thanks to technological advances, zero energy designs aren’t science fiction anymore. Solar Decathlon students have shown that creative solutions are attainable for both new and existing buildings in communities across the world,” said Kassie Grimes, DOE commercial buildings lead for the Solar Decathlon.