Innovation in Sustainable Solar-Powered Net-Zero Energy Solar Decathlon Houses: A Review and Showcase

Abstract

Solar Decathlon is a showcase of cutting-edge residential buildings containing innovative solutions and technologies. This study reviewed, identified, and categorized technological innovations from past Solar Decathlon competitions. The review was based on publicly available data of the top five houses from each U.S. and international Solar Decathlon competition. The most prolific innovations identified were from building services systems and architectural design and construction. It was observed that most innovations within building services systems were in heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning, and home automation, while architectural design and construction innovations focused on building adaptability, façade, structure, and building materials. It was found that although there is no fixed relationship between the numbers of innovations in the houses and their overall competition points, there is a high probability for an innovative house to be placed within the top five houses. This study also provides information about technological innovations within Solar Decathlon houses and offers an innovation classification scheme to guide Solar Decathletes to understand what innovations could be implemented in their future entries.

Research on the Influence of Nonmorphological Elements’ Cognition on Architectural Design Education in Universities: Third Year Architecture Core Studio in Special Topics “Urban Village Renovation Design”

“…Currently, this method is extensively used in educational contexts based on architectural design competition. For example, the Solar Decathlon [29,30] requires systematic consideration of many nonmorphological elements such as site, environment, materials, history and culture, economic conditions, and energy use. The UIA-HYP CUP International Student Competition in Architectural Design [31] focuses on social hot issues.…”

Analysis of Current Limiter Electronics for Solar Pumps: Evaluating Performance in Varied Sunlight Intensities

“…One significant challenge lies in developing current control mechanisms that effectively address rapid and unpredictable changes in sunlight intensity, especially in the context of solar pump systems. The need for real-time adaptation to varying environmental conditions poses a technical hurdle, demanding sophisticated control algorithms and reliable sensors (Baghi et al, 2021;Mehrjerdi, 2021).…”

Energy-Saving Design Strategies of Zero-Energy Solar Buildings—A Case Study of the Third Solar Decathlon China

“…[38][39][40] With the popularity and promotion of ZEBs, SD has gradually attracted widespread attention and been recognized and widely discussed by more and more authorities in the field. Zhongqi Yu has summarized and compared the passive energy-saving design strategies in the two SDE competitions to provide a reference for subsequent studies on zero-energy houses [41]; with the entries of three SD competitions as examples, Deng Feng has discussed the technical route of zero-energy house design [42]; as well, Yeganeh Baghi has identified and classified technological innovations from past SD competitions, analyzed information on technological innovations of these projects and provided a way to classify innovations [43]. In addition, the organizing committee of the competition and relevant university institutions have carried out thematic academic conferences and salon forums on this basis [44][45][46] to provide a platform for people who are concerned about ZEBs to exchange and learn.…”