Solar Decathlon Solar Decathlon The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Decathlon is a collegiate competition, comprising 10 contests, that challenges student teams to design and build highly efficient and innovative buildings powered by renewable energy. The winners will be those teams that best blend design architectural and engineering excellence with innovation, market potential, building efficiency, and smart energy production. In the summer of 2018, DOE merged its two student building design competitions into one Solar Decathlon competition. The combined competition features two tracks, the Design Challenge and the Build Challenge. The Solar Decathlon provides a hands-on experience and unique training that
Solar Decathlon Airport to downtown Union Station. In addition to the competition, Solar Decathlon 2017 also featured a sustainability expo, professional development and consumer workshops, and middle-school education events. Open to the public and free of charge, the Solar Decathlon allows visitors to tour energy- and water-efficient houses, and gather ideas to save energy and conserve water in their own homes. The Solar Decathlon 2017 competition was presented by DOE and administered by Energetics, Incorporated, a subsidiary of VSE Corporation. Previous competitions were administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Since the first competition in 2002, the Solar Decathlon has expanded