Denver recently had the privilege of hosting the USDoE Solar Decathlon, and the DMA Engineering team attended. We were impressed to see the different housing concepts that the universities and colleges put together. Many of the homes offered excellent architectural features along with energy efficiency. DMA was impressed that the teams had advanced so far from just putting a solar panel on the roof and calling it green; the teams also looked further to the envelope, HVAC, water reclamation, building envelope, target audiences and the overall constructability of the homes.
We especially loved the projects from UNLV and Washington University-St. Louis., and believe it is really important that the DOE keeps the decathlon moving forward as it helps nurture a future generation of energy engineers.
