Sunday is sun day for young engineers and designers

Today judges begin their work in the third Solar Decathlon. There are twenty college and unversity teams entered including competitors from Germany, Spain, Canada and Puerto Rico. Judges will get their initial tour of each entry. The picture shows one of the entries, this from University of Missouri-Rolla. There's a complete gallery of the entries here. I had to use that pic, I grew up in Rolla and my father taught there for most of his career.

The entries must be entirely solar-powered. No extension cords to large diesel generators. This year's Decathlon is again taking place on the National Mall in Washington D.C. Shows some status for solar power within the Beltway. Sponsors include the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

Here is the ten category point system used in picking the winner: Architecture — 200 points Engineering — 150 points Market Viability — 150 points Communications — 100 points Comfort Zone — 100 points Appliances — 100 points Hot Water — 100 points Lighting — 100 points Energy Balance — 100 points Getting Around — 100 points

In some of these categories there are specific tasks to be performed by each competing team within their house. Can you cook a meal for eight, including boiling water? Can you do a load of laundry AND run the refrigerator? The 2007 Decathlon winner will be named on Friday of this week. In 2005 the University of Colorado won, as they had int he first Solar Decatholon of 2002. They could be seen as the hometown favorite as they are located near the NREL.

Among the sponsors are BP, Sprint, several building trades associations and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).