I know its only June, but this competition excites me every year. The part that interests me are the students who design solar powered homes. Its so much fun.

This October 9-13 & 15-18, 20 teams from US and world colleges and universities will assemble their designs on the National Mall in Washington DC and be judged on a series of criteria. There are multiple competition categories that each project can win in.

http://www.solardecathlon.org/

I went to this last year. Its really cool to see the ideas and concepts that the youth of the world are working with. I recommend this even to anyone who can get out there.

The kids who do this thing are amazing. I felt stupid when I went out there last year. The field of green architecture is taking off and its on the backs of these youth. I recommend a trip to DC for so many reasons but timing it to get to see this event is a wise choice.

just wanted to make sure that everyone sees this and maybe even get some people to go to the event.

The name of this event always makes me laugh. I see the competitors and its so so much more than solar. I know that solar power is very important to all of the designs, but why not call it something new now that the event has pushed way past solar power.

I wish I could make it to DC. Do they ever take these things "on tour"? I think it would be a great idea to take the winners across the country for small exhibits. I think it would be beneficial to small town Americans to see innovation coming from our youth.

Does anyone know if there are tours for these houses? Seems like it wouldn't be a new idea.

Anyone else headed to DC to check out the competition?

So you can still go out and see the houses from the competitors but the winners have been announced.

First Place - Team Germany
Second Place - Illinois
Third Place - Team California

For complete results and a listing of winners in each category, go to

http://www.solardecathlon.org/

Germany seems like they always win this thing. I don't care for the darkness of the house. I saw some others that I really like though. The Team California house was very nice. Illinois seemed very plain but very nice on the inside. I guess from some of the results, it had amazing performance, but who can compete with a house covered with thin film solar panels.

I am excited about everything I saw come out of the Solar Decathlon this year, but the scoring and judging always perplexes me. I looked at the reported construction cost for the winning entries. Illinois's entry was on the lower end of the spectrum, California was in the middle and Germany was completely at the top.

I looked at the standings for the Marketability category and it shocked me. Germany was 5th, California 3rd and Illinois 14th. Sure there is more than cost that goes into Market Viability, but the cost differential to me says that the judges ignored the cost it would take to bring one of these houses to market.

Illinois's house was probably still a bit high for its size, especially in a market like today's, but the one from Team Germany was WAY WAY out of any feasible pricing for a home of that size. Even with all its technologies you would NEVER be able to pay it back.

I would like to reiterate that this is an exciting competition and the designs and technology are always great to see, but I think there are definitely holes in the competition judging.