2013 Solar Decathalon Coming to Irvine in 2013!

The US Department of Energy announced last week that the 2013 Solar Decathlon will be held in our back yard! In addition to welcoming 20 new collegiate teams and hundreds of new student decathletes to the 2013 competition, DOE announced a new site: the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, California. This venue will provide a stage worthy of displaying the teams’ energy-efficient, solar-powered houses to the world.

The Solar Decathlon challenges international collegiate teams to design and build solar-powered houses that are cost-effective, energy-efficient and attractive while promoting the education and economic benefits of renewable energy and energy efficiency.  Visitors will be able to tour the renewable energy houses that combine energy-efficient construction and appliances at a specially-constructed Great Park Solar Village in the fall of 2013.

The Great Park received broad-based community support to stage the 2013 Solar Decathlon from many of the region’s elected officials, educational institutions and clean energy organizations, including Senator Dianne Feinstein, U.S. Representatives John Campbell and Loretta Sanchez, Scott Samuleson, Director of the Advanced Power and Energy Program at the University of California Irvine, Bill Habermehl, Superintendent, Orange County Department of Education, the Orange County Business Council, the Building Industry Association of Orange County, Clean TechOC and Southern California Edison.

We have already made contact with the DOE on volunteer opportunities. How else would you like to help bring international attention to renewable energy here in Orange County? Let us know!