2024-11-23T21:54:09-05:00 https://archinect.com/news/article/84161736/archinect-field-trip-solar-decathlon-2013-basking-in-arrays-of-energy-efficiency Amelia Taylor-Hochberg 2013-10-15T15:28:00-04:00 >2018-01-30T06:16:04-05:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/bj/bjvjbh49ppb5q88h.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><p>Plopped down on a former Marine Corp air station in the geographic middle of Orange County, nineteen solar-powered model homes line the runway to be judged in the U.S. Department of Energy&rsquo;s 2013 Solar Decathlon. For its first year held away from the National Mall in Washington D.C., the Solar Decathlon was staged in Irvine&rsquo;s Great Park, which while being an abandoned airstrip surrounded by farmland, housing developments and dirt, purports to be the &ldquo;<a href="http://www.ocgp.org/learn/design/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">first major metropolitan park of the 21st century</a>&rdquo;. For ten days, collegiate teams from around the world showcased their houses for public tours and competition in ten categories that grade affordability, marketability, design and energy efficiency. Each team has architects and engineers (sometimes from multiple schools) collaboratively design and build a fully functional solar-powered home for their chosen environment.</p><p>What does the Department of Energy do with these winning designs once the competition is over? Anticlimactically, most ...</p>