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Earth Power Technology

First Photos From the European Solar Decathlon 26

Posted by timothy from the cool-little-houses dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The 2010 Solar Decathlon Europe kicked off today in Madrid, Spain, with a stunning array of solar-powered prefab homes. Seventeen teams from around the globe are battling it out in the center of the city to see who has the most efficient solar-powered and eco-friendly house. Just as in the competition in Washington DC, the teams will be graded on minimal energy use, innovative architecture and engineering, sustainability, and more. Check out these exclusive photos from the event for a first look at the most exciting houses in this year's competition."
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First Photos From the European Solar Decathlon More

First Photos From the European Solar Decathlon

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  • medal count (Score:3, Funny)

    by PopeRatzo ( 965947 ) * on Friday June 18, 2010 @11:36PM (#32622526) Journal

    The 2010 Solar Decathlon Europe kicked off today in Madrid

    How did the US house do in the solar pole vault?

  • Decathlon (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Itninja ( 937614 ) on Friday June 18, 2010 @11:37PM (#32622534) Homepage
    So why is this called a decathlon? I cannot figure that out from TFA. Are there like 10 different types of solar energy they are going for here?

  • Awesome! (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I love the giant vulva house!

  • Please keep you limbs inside the train at all times. Do not attempt to open the doors until the train has come to a complete halt at the station platform.

    A reminder that the Black Mesa Hazard Course decathlon will commence this evening at 1900 hours in the Level Three facility. The semi-finals for high security personnel will be announced in a separate secure access transmission. Remember, more lives than your own may depend on your fitness. Do you have a friend or relative who make a valuable addition t

  • Judge a marathon based on 100 yards in the middle? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Rogerborg ( 306625 ) on Saturday June 19, 2010 @02:46AM (#32623322) Homepage
    You want to know which design is more efficient? You need to monitor the mining, refining, shipping, construction and maintenance for the next 20+ years (or until we have fusion power, which largely moots the problem). Judging efficiency based on a sample of a couple of days is like measuring tails and extrapolating that cats and elephants must be about the same size.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by elashish14 ( 1302231 )

      I'm sorry. Maybe they should just scrap the competition then. It's clearly a total waste and provides no true innovation or inspiration for its corporate sponsors and/or onlookers.

      Anytime a scientific story gets posted to slashdot, what annoys me most is when commentors take on the annoying stance of impatiently asking why it isn't functional immediately. It's ridiculous. So I suppose all modern inventions were developed overnight. The first computers were core i7's, right? It's not like we ever started out

      • what annoys me most is when commentors take on the annoying stance of impatiently asking why it isn't functional immediately

        Perhaps you meant to reply to a different thread, since I'm making exactly the opposite point.

    • That's like saying why take on big oil in the first place with things like solar and wind energy. The architecture industry has little control over the construction, shipping, mining, maintenance and regulatory industries, and little help from governments either. The best we can do now is just make a product that IS a little better and then put it on the market. In the end it is really up to the consumer and how guilty they feel about the fact that their TV (or computer) power usage could operate three or

  • Major Solar Energy Marketing Campaign in Progress? (Score:5, Informative)

    by Hadlock ( 143607 ) on Saturday June 19, 2010 @03:46AM (#32623480) Homepage Journal

    A few days ago my buddy emailed me with some infographic [tumblr.com] about "how few" solar panels it would take to power the entire planet. Now this. I'll agree there's money to be made in Solar, and it's green(ish), but has anyone else noticed just a huge marketing push in the last few weeks for solar? I guess it makes more sense to market solar energy during the summer (in the northern hemisphere) but why now? It's convenient that the BP oil spill is happening now, but this sort of thing takes lots of perpetration, time and money. I'm guessing it's in response to the Cape Wind project [wikipedia.org] finally being approved? Anyone have any more info on why NOW they're doing such a large marketing push for solar? Is wind that big of a threat to solar?
     
    It's interesting that they're doing this in Spain, where wind support is popular and has long had government support, with several large installations already.

    • Anyone have any more info on why NOW they're doing such a large marketing push for solar? Is wind that big of a threat to solar?

      It's obvious that it's all about the BP spill. People are saying "what can we do to stop this from happening again?" The best answer is "stop offshore drilling" but it's not realistic unless we reduce our dependence on oil.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Hadlock ( 143607 )

        It's not obvious this contest is a direct result of Deep Water oil rig. I'm pretty sure they came up with the contest, had the design firms design and then construct and transport the houses to their current location long before Deep Water self destructed. For solar companies, Deep Water is just a happy coincidence. Unless... *dons tin foil hat*

        • I'm not talking about the contest, but about the spread of the information on alternative energy. If it's what's gathering eyeballs, it will be replicated by "the media".

      • Is wind that big of a threat to solar?

        No, but these butt-ugly houses are. Sure, plenty of college kids would live in them, but who the hell would buy something that looks like that?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by pjt33 ( 739471 )

      Solar had huge government support in Spain too. It's only the dire economic situation the country's in which has put a stop to the government subsidising solar panels on all new commercial construction.

    • The thing is that solar companies are probably the only ones where I don’t mind a marketing push.
      Although I prefer the combination of solar thermal power plants and pumped-storage hydroelectricity (or other good storage forms) for the night, interconnected with HVDC lines.

      It’s really true that with 400x400 km of those power plants (not counting the hydros) you could power the entire world. Which is especially great for the poor but sunny countries, since those power plants are dead cheap, simple

  • First Photos From the European Solar Deathcannon?

  • ...why weather is so awful in south Europe today.

  • I like the bamboo one and HOUSE because form seems to follow function and the end results don't look like the more silly entries in a clothing fashion show or like mobile homes accessorized with cars on cinder blocks and beer gutted rednecks.

    However houses are for suburbia and suburbia is a stupid idea because it increases commute distances and wastes land. The lack of shared walls wastes materials and reduces energy efficiency.

    IMO, a contest for high-rise building and urban designs would be more interesti

  • here you can find a nice collection of news articles about the solar decathlon europe [fh-rosenheim.de].

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