Solar Decathlon Teams Celebrate Courtesy Team RHOME

2014 Decathlon logo

The winners of the 2014 European Solar Decathlon have been announced. Teams from Italy, France and the Netherlands placed one, two, and three in the overall standings from 10 competitive contests.  Come back for a comprehensive round-up and photo display this coming week. You can review the standings of all 20 teams through this link. It ain’t over yet — to be announced:  the People’s Choice house based on votes from people visiting the Cite du Soleil in Versailles and online.

Here in brief are the top competitors:

ITALY  Team RHOME  for Den City(Rome & Home) addresses the outskirts of Rome, where housing, country, archeology and illegal buildings are interwoven. Team RHOME seeks to re-densify and re-qualify the boundaries of the city by reinforcing urban settlements and working on a sustainable mobility solution for the whole metropolitan area. Web site

FRANCE Atlantic Challenge Team  Phileas from  Nantes, France,  ranked second overall in the standing.  The City of Nantes was last year’s Green European Capital and is ranked as one of Europe’s most livable cities. This project concept incorporates “The Fertile City” — farming (fertilizing) activity within the context of city life, working (a new economy), sharing (socio-cultural relationships) and living (densification). Web site

Team Delft toolbox

THE NETHERLANDS “Prêt-à-Loger,” as in “ready to live,” –the third place competitor –is the concept of Team Netherlands Delft. It is about solving the conflict between preservation and development, keeping memories and moving forward. The Team from DELFT maintains that old buildings are not just shabby constructions but real homes, filled with the memories and specific rituals of generations who lived there. Team Delft has conceived a toolbox with plenty of elements, the main feature being the skin which provides a frame for the entire household. This new skin will include the most common features (power, food, water, light, ventilation and thermal comfort) as well as a user-interface integrated into the skin. Web site

Additional Content: You can “Meet the Teams” — all 20 from 16 countries — in an exclusive Green News Update article. Go here