Students from around the world will bring their designs for solar-powered houses to Irvine, California this October, as part of the 2013 Solar Decathlon. First held in 2002, the Solar Decathlon is a biannual student competition hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy. The Decathlon will take place at Orange County Great Park, with model houses erected for public tours October 3-6 and 10-13, from 11am - 7pm daily.

Take a look at the competing entries via the Dept. of Energy's flickr stream, as well as photos from XPO, the "clean, renewable and efficient energy exposition" that will host the competition. Competitors will be representing the following schools, listed as teams:

• Arizona State University and The University of New Mexico (U.S.)
• Czech Technical University (Czech Republic)
• University of Louisville, Ball State University and University of Kentucky (U.S.)
• Middlebury College (U.S.)
• Missouri University of Science and Technology (U.S.)
• Norwich University (U.S.)
• Santa Clara University (U.S.)
• Southern California Institute of Architecture and California Institute of Technology (U.S.)
• Stanford University (U.S.)
• Stevens Institute of Technology (U.S.)
• University of Calgary (Canada)
• Vienna University of Technology (Austria)
• Team Capitol DC: The Catholic University of America, George Washington University, and American University
• Queen's University, Carleton University, and Algonquin College (Canada)
• The University of Texas at El Paso and El Paso Community College (U.S.)
• Hampton University and Old Dominion University (U.S.)
• University of Nevada Las Vegas (U.S.)
• The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (U.S.)
• University of Southern California (U.S.)
• West Virginia University (U.S.)

More news on previous Solar Decathlons.