| There are ten contests and 1000 points awarded between between October 8th and 16th. These contests are intended to determine the school that has produced the best entry to the competition, based on the house itself, its level of performance, and the effort of students to promote solar power. |
Subjective Contests
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Architecture
100 Points
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| A jury of architects will review the submitted construction documents and the house itself. They will be judging the houses on three main factors:
Architectural elements - suitability for purpose and sound form and aesthetic
Holistic design - integration of technology and practical design for daily living
Inspiration - innovations in the use of materials and forms
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Market Viability
100 Points
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A jury of homebuilding industry professionals will determine, based on construction documents and the house itself, if the house could realistically enter the housing market. This is determined based on a specific demographic (chosen by the team), in our case, a couple who are young professionals in Columbus. The jury will look at the house's livability based on design, buildability based on documentation, and marketability (as if the house were a model home).
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Engineering
100 Points
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| Professional engineers will evaluate the house's engineered systems to see that they function well and efficiently, as being built to reliable in the long run.
Additionally, teams will be judged on the innovation they employed in solving problems associated with systems that they chose as well as alternative energy and conservation genrally.
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Lighting Design
75 Points |
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A jury of lighting designers will evaluate the houses on the the design and execution of lighting, based on six categories:
| Electric Lighting Quality |
Daylighting Quality |
| Ease of Operation |
Flexibility |
| Energy Efficiency |
Building Integration |
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Communications
75 Points
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| Teams are judged on the quality of their efforts to promote the Decathlon and solar power: website, house tour on the Mall, quality of presentations, and execution of communication plan to promote the Solar Decathlon to the public. |
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Objective Contests
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Comfort Zone
100 Points
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| Teams design their houses to maintain steady, uniform indoor environmental conditions. Full points are awarded for maintaining narrow temperature and relative humidity ranges inside. For full points, the team houses must maintain:
Temperature in the range of 72°F (22.2°C) to 76°F (24.4°C)
Relative humidity between 40% and 55%.
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Hot Water
100 Points |
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The team will be required to draw, several times each day, 15 gallons of water from the showerhead. The water must hot, approximately 110° F (43.3° C) and drawn within 10 minutes. |
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Appliances
100 Points |
| The Appliances contest is designed to emulate appliance use in the average home, putting a consumption load on the house's energy generation and demonstrating viability. Points are earned for:
Maintaining refrigerator temperature within 34°F - 40°F (1.11°C - 4.44°C).
Maintaining freezer temperature within (-20°F - 5°F) (-28.9°C to /-1.5°C).
Running the washer, dryer, and dishwasher several times throughout the week.
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Home Entertainment
100 Points |
The contest in comprised of two dinner parties and movie night for neighboring teams and severalmeasured tasksrelated to cooking, entertainment and home office work.
Intended to demonstrate the house's ability to include modern conveniences and be a place of entertainment, the competition includes a subjective portion based on the responses of visiting teams at Home Entertainment events.
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Net Metering
150 Points |
Energy Balance is the achieving net-zero energy use. That is to recieve 100 points, teams must have zero kWh or lower on their electricity meter.
Energy Surplus is the criteria for giving out the remaining, maximum 50, points. The team with the highest energy surplus (or most negative number) will recieve the full 50 points and sliding scale will be applied to distribute points to the rest of the teams in surplus.
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