Team Germany Wins First Place 2009 Solar Decathlon, Again

(first segment of the show)

Team Germany snatched the first place at the 2009 Solar Decathlon, again. This is a repeat from 2007. But for the price tag of between $650,000 to $850,000, team Illinois from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champain is not doing bad. They're at the low end of the price range, est. at about $250,000. These are prototype homes. It costs 'that' much to build a prototype.

Germany's team, from Technische Universitat in Darmstadt, designed a building that not only had solar panels on the roof, but also on the walls, making the potential generation as high as 11,000 watts. The specially designed siding that used thin-film solar cells fitted onto aluminum strips. The solar cells ran all the electrical systems, including the hot water heater, and are capable of generating about twice as much electricity as the house needs.

[via Green Tech]

So from the retail perspective or marketability, whether this kind of solar homes can be sold in their respective 'target' market, team New Orleans - represented by Univ. of New Orleans at Lafayette is on first place. Texas - Rice University gets second place. And California - University of Santa Barbara is on third place.

To see the scoreboard, here.

FIRST PLACE: Team Germany - Technische Universitat Darmstadt

  

SECOND: Team Illinois - Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

 

THIRD: Team California - Santa Clara University