Virginia Tech took top honors to a standing ovation at the Solar Decathlon Europe awards ceremony today in Madrid, Spain. The decathletes were ecstatic to finally win after participating in four Solar Decathlons. And this was the closest margin of victory in a Solar Decathlon. Virginia Tech won by less than a point!

Virginia Tech participated in the 2002, 2005, and 2009 U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlons. For the faculty advisors who have nurtured three teams of students over 10 years, this victory is sweet. The professors were overjoyed, and the students were jumping and dancing on stage and hugging and high-fiving one another.

The Virginia Tech team displays its first-place trophy.

Virginia Tech had practice on its side, having competed in 2009 in the United States on the National Mall. It was one of the first teams to finish assembling its house and get connected to the grid. Then, when the team won the Architecture contest, it shot out front and never looked back. Although the margin of victory was extremely close, the team maintained focus and had a quiet confidence about it. It was a remarkable victory under formidable odds.

Congratulations also go to the Rosenheim and Stuttgart teams. Both have beautiful houses. Rosenheim nipped at Virginia Tech’s heels all week and almost pulled ahead. Stuttgart won the solar system contest on the last day of judging, which catapulted it from fourth to third.

The University of Florida team celebrates being voted the people’s choice in online voting.

The University of Florida finished eighth. The team was very happy and satisfied with its effort. And it won the online people’s choice award! Way to go, Florida! The Instituto de Arquitectura Avanzada de Cataluña won the most paper votes in the village.

The Spanish Ministry of Housing hired a firm that specializes in estimating the size of crowds by taking photos and calculating area and density. The ministry reported that 191,000 people visited the Villa Solar in Madrid, which surpasses the numbers estimated to have visited the National Mall for the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2009. This is just more evidence that the inaugural Solar Decathlon Europe was a big success.

The Virginia Tech team plans to disassemble its house and be back in the United States by Friday, July 2. Its house, on the other hand, is not expected at the Baltimore harbor until August.

Richard King is the director of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon. Throughout the Solar Decathlon Europe competition, U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon organizers are reporting from Madrid.

Too close to call! Virginia Tech had a commanding 35-point lead at Solar Decathlon Europe earlier this week, but the University of Applied Sciences Rosenheim has cut that lead to only six points now. With only today and tomorrow left to score performance-based points, everything the teams do—from hot water draws to cooking to washing to cooling their houses—really makes a difference. Every point counts. 

The current leaders’ scores are:

All the juries have now gone through the houses and made their evaluations. As of today, there are three more subjective contests to be awarded:

The organizers are holding the last announcement (Solar Systems and Hot Water) until just before the final, overall award ceremony to provide drama and excitement. As you can see, this competition is still too close to call.

The people’s choice award will be announced Saturday evening, so if you haven’t voted for your favorite team yet, you are running out of time! You can vote at www.sdeurope.org.

On another note, as we move into the final days of competition, it has become hot! We started out with rain and cool temperatures, but now it is very hot and sunny. Every day has brought perfectly clear, cloudless skies. The teams have been producing large surpluses of electricity. The city of Madrid is happy to have all the extra power!

Richard King is the director of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon. Throughout the Solar Decathlon Europe competition, U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon organizers are reporting from Madrid.

The Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences celebrates its win in the Engineering and Construction contest.

The Germans and French ran away with the prestigious Engineering and Construction contest at Solar Decathlon Europe today. Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences was awarded first place, and Arts et Métiers Paris Tech took second.  A two-way tie was announced for third between the University of Applied Sciences Rosenheim and Ecole National Supérieure d’Architecture de Grenoble.

The jury members had high praise for the engineering excellence exhibited by all the teams and said even they learned a lot. They also said they were impressed by how many teams focused on the goal of “doing more with less.” That is the real challenge today for engineers, they said.

The Arts et Métiers Paris Tech team placed second in the Solar Decathlon Europe Engineering and Construction contest.

This following is from a Solar Decathlon Europe press release:

Solar Decathlon Europe has just awarded the prize for the Engineering and Construction contest in another ceremony at the Villa Solar.  Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences, with its solar house, … has just become the winner of this contest with 72 points, followed by Arts et Métiers Paris Tech with 66 points. École National Supérieure d’Architecture de Grenoble and University of Applied Sciences Rosenheim share the third position with 64 points.

The scores earned by the teams in this contest are:

Virginia Tech and the University of Florida did not fare well in the engineering contest. Virginia Tech was awarded 51 points and thirteenth place; Florida received 47 points for fourteenth place.  However, I think Virginia Tech remains in first place by a slim seven points. Too close for comfort!

Richard King is the director of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon. Throughout the Solar Decathlon Europe competition, U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon organizers are reporting from Madrid.

Ambassador Solomont visits the University of Florida team.

Ambassador Solomont poses with the Virginia Tech team on the deck of its house.

Today at 11 a.m., U.S. Ambassador to Spain Alan Solomont visited Solar Decathlon Europe.

Much to the delight of the U.S. teams, Ambassador Solomont toured the University of Florida house and then the Virginia Tech house. The ambassador also visited two Spanish teams: the Universidad de Sevilla and the Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera. Finally, he visited Tongji University’s Bamboo House. Ambassador Solomont praised the students and faculty and was very impressed by their work. He spent more than an hour and a half touring the houses.

As of this morning, Virginia Tech was 38 points in the lead! The team is thrilled to be in first place overall and is working hard to stay ahead of Ecole National Supérieure darchitecture de Grenoble, which is in second place. The French are proving to be tough competitors in their first competition.

This afternoon at 5 p.m., the awards for the Engineering contest will be announced. This is an important contest that will affect many of the teams, so stay tuned!

Richard King is the director of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon. Throughout the Solar Decathlon Europe competition, U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon organizers are reporting from Madrid.

The award ceremonies continue in Solar Decathlon Europe’s Villa Solar. This afternoon, the Communications and Social Awareness award was presented to the University of Florida for its solar house, RE:FOCUS.

The minute the University of Florida team members welcomed me into their house for a tour, I felt appreciated as a guest. They seemed so happy folks were there and enjoyed explaining the wonderful features of their traditional Florida house. Unbiased as I am, I really feel they deserve the Communications and Social Media award. Congratulations to Florida!

Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University and Fanchhoschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin were awarded second and third place, respectively.

The scores in the Communications and Social Media contest were:

Jane Kolleeny, Javier Gregori, and Miguel Ángel Valladares were the jury members in this contest. They evaluated how well the teams communicated the benefits of solar energy, the energy efficiency of their house, and sustainability.

Richard King is the director of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon. Throughout the Solar Decathlon Europe competition, U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon organizers are reporting from Madrid.