We warned you it was happening, and now the news is out: The 2013 Solar Decathlon, which has taken place in D.C. since its inception a decade ago, is off to the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, California. At least the bright young things from Catholic University, George Washington University, and American University—who've made it into the competition as Team Capitol D.C.—will have a nice little vacation.

Photo via flickr user Solar Decathlon

Empowerhouse, in the flesh. (Lydia DePillis)

After exploding with indignation at being kicked off the Mall, 19 entrants in this year's Solar Decathlon made it to West Potomac Park anyway, and were just putting the final touches on their high-tech houses when press stopped by this afternoon. They range from the totally traditional to the barely recognizable, but all will be judged on the same 10 criteria, including affordability, market appeal, engineering, communications, and architecture. And make no mistake, this is serious business for the teams—many have gotten big-time corporate sponsorships, and have aggressive public relations strategies, including press outreach, VIP receptions, and legions of chipper tour guides.

District residents will want to make sure to stop by the Empowerhouse, which was designed in conjunction with the city and Habitat for Humanity for a single mother in Deanwood, and will be transported there after the competition finishes. Rather than whiz-bang technology, the team focused on simplicity, with a model that could be easily replicated using off-the-shelf components for about $250,000. Design-y furniture presumably not included.

Anyhow, I made a slideshow with most of the houses (the ones I missed aren't necessarily less cool) and their websites, which will tell you much more about them. But the most fun thing is checking them out in person, so get thee to West Potomac Park as soon as Friday and as late as October 2.

A rendering of the Parsons school's entrant. (DOE Flickr Feed)

Remember that whole brouhaha about the Solar Decathlon needing to move off the National Mall in order to preserve the grass? It ended up in West Potomac Park in late September, which seemed to mollify participants, who feared having to shlep to National Harbor. Next year, however, the Department of Energy is inviting bids for other venues, looking to move the 10-year-old event outside D.C. altogether "in an effort to expand the excitement generated by the competition and encourage participation from new communities."

That's certainly a loss for the District, and participants might grumble about losing the prestige of America's front yard. It's hard to argue the essential fairness of spreading the love around, though.

UPDATE, 11:00 a.m. - Decathlete spokeswoman Elisabeth Neigert called to clarify: Contra the E&E article, she hasn't actually heard that National Harbor is more likely than any of the other proposed alternatives (which include RFK stadium). Given that the Department of Energy isn't confirming or denying anything, and that Neigert and E&E seem to have gotten their wires crossed, we're just going to have to wait and see what they say.

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Sorry for all the solar news lately, but events are moving fast: Students desperately trying to keep the Decathlon on the National Mall say they've found out that the Department of Energy has chosen National Harbor–in Maryland–as the new site for the competition.

E&E News talked to spokespeople for the Departments of Energy and the Interior, who didn't deny the decision, but said that a final agreement hadn't been signed.

The massive development just south of the District line has already siphoned off quite a bit of D.C.'s convention business, which has been distressing people like Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton. From scanning through National Harbor's venue brochure, it seems likely that the Decathlon would sit on the 64-acre "Plateau" (pictured below) that's a half mile away from the center of "town."

Besides a stick in the District's eye, it's not hard to see why this is a suboptimal solution from a public standpoint: Located just outside the beltway, the only way to get there without a car is via bus from the Branch Avenue metro station. Not impossible, but much more of a schlep, and not something that most of us are just going to swing by during a long lunch.

I'm sure the Departments of Energy and Interior will fully explain the decision when they're good and ready.

The boundaries of the National Mall Plan, and the two green squares where the Decathlon takes place.

If there was a way to make the solar decathletes booted off the National Mall even more angry than they already were, the National Park Service might have done it, by issuing permits to the National Book Festival to expand from one day to two–on the first weekend that the Solar Decathlon was supposed to have taken place. The Library of Congress announced yesterday that its literary shindig would go off on September 24th and 25th, making it even more difficult for the competition to be restored to the Mall on the previously planned dates.

You know who doesn't care? The Washington Post, which opined last Friday that the Solar Decathlon should suck it up and go elsewhere, for the sake of the Mall's long term health. "This is a simple matter of whether the Mall–long revered as the country's "front yard"–will be restored to its former glory and maintained for future generations," the editorial reads. "Years of neglect and overuse have caused the Mall to become a national disgrace, and finally there's recognition of the need to fix conditions."

To which one might respond: It's a lawn, for crying out loud. Lawns can be repaired–if the Decathlon does damage, then make contestants pay for its repair. I'd wager that Americans would rather have a "front yard" continually programmed with activities rather than covered with perfectly manicured grass. While I think using Anacostia Park would be a great opportunity, I also think that the sustainability argument for booting the Decathlon off the Mall is a little wrongheaded.

That's also the conclusion of a clutch of House Democrats, who signed a letter supporting the Decathlon's return to the Mall. Signatories include a few well-placed influencers, like Committee on Natural Resources ranking member Ed Markey (who oversees the Department of the Interior) and research and science subcommittee chairman Daniel Lipinski. But this year, they're not exactly calling the shots anymore–if the Decathletes have any hope at all, they'll probably need to bring on GOP committee chairs as well.

"This is only the beginning," promises organizer Elisabeth Neigert.

Virginia Tech displays its 2010 entrant in another prominent location, Times Square.

Bumped from the Nation's front yard, the teams competing in 2011's Solar Decathlon aren't leaving quietly.

Besides a petition drive that's now gathered over 6,000 signatures, there's now an organized campaign to get public officials to pressure–or force–the Departments of Energy and the Interior to reverse their decision to move the event in the interest of the Mall's "long-term sustainability." On Friday, Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey sent a letter to Secretaries Ken Salazar and Steven Chu in support of the Decathlon's restoration:

Secretary Salazar, you have spoken of your eagerness to be involved in crafting an ‘energy moon shot.’  Secretary Chu, you have recently called upon America to recognize that China's recent gains in clean energy industries should serve as a new ‘Sputnik moment’ for America to reclaim its clean energy leadership. The students who have worked for two years toward this year’s Solar Decathlon have listened and responded to these calls to arms. These students deserve to showcase their talents at our country's center stage and to be part of the great history of the Mall.

SCI-Arc/CalTech's Elizabeth Neigert is heading up mobilization of students, who are asking their university government affairs offices to bring up the issue with elected officials, as well as meeting with senators, representatives, and ambassadors themselves. There's a short timeframe: She expects that the feds will make a decision on where to stage the competition within the next week or so. On Monday, the subscription-only Energy & Environment Daily reported that the Department of Energy was trying to keep the competition in or near the District, but was also considering St. Louis, Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles.

Here's the problem with moving the Decathlon off the mall, logically speaking: Many of the 20 teams have already booked plane tickets and hotel rooms (four of them from overseas). They've even tailored their engineering calculations to the Mall's weather and geographic conditions. Some have big-ticket sponsorships from companies–like, for example, Dow Chemical–that are contingent on the level of exposure the National Mall would offer.

The biggest motivator, though, is prestige. Especially after President Barack Obama's State of the Union rhetoric about energy innovation–and the recent announcement of a solar decathlon in China–robbing the contestants of their pedestal seems especially hypocritical. If need be, Neigert says the teams may try to legally enforce their contract with the Department of Energy, which explicitly mentions that the event will take place on the Mall.

"We don't want to take that route, but we are all outraged," she says. "It's demoralizing. It makes you feel like the work you're doing isn't that important."

Another possibility, however, has been floated on local listservs: Holding the event in Anacostia Park. It would mess up no travel or accommodations, and has ample space. And although it wouldn't be as in-your-face as the Mall location, it carries with it an environmental justice dimension, considering how hard solar advocates push the value of their technology to lower income communities. Few higher-profile events have occurred east of the river, and the more that people get used to crossing those bridges, the better. Perhaps, if they don't get the Mall, the decathletes could at least take solace in that.

UPDATE, Friday, 11:30 p.m. – Although team contracts with the Department of Energy do state that the event is to take place on the National Mall, Neigert wishes to clarify that the teams are focusing their efforts on the National Park Service and Department of the Interior–which enforced the removal of the Decathlon from the Mall in the first place–and have no current plans to take legal action against the DOE.

Photo from flickr user solar_decathlon.

Solar doohickey. (Darrow Montgomery)

Trying to pin down funding for solar energy in the District is like wrestling a slippery fish: You think you have it, and then it jumps out of your hands again, forcing another round of pursuit.

Along with incentives from the federal government, a $3-per-kilowatt subsidy has brought rooftop solar energy systems within the reach of rank-and-file homeowners who couldn't otherwise afford the up-front installation cost. But this last round of budget gap-closing measures was the third time funding has slipped out of the hands of advocates who've been trying to assure people that the District government will underwrite their decision to go solar. The $2 million promised for solar rebates in fiscal year 2011 was cut to $1.1 million, leaving 56 people who've already been approved for rebates–many of whom have already contracted for installations–unsure of whether the money will ever come through.

Constantly cutting funding for solar rebates is different than cutting funding for other programs. Above all else, fostering a green energy economy requires predictability: The absolute knowledge that if you go into the business of helping people put solar panels on their roofs, the government support that sustains consumer demand will be there for a while. Solar advocates thought they had accomplished this by creating a dedicated trust fund supplied with a small percentage of Pepco bills. (You may remember another dedicated funding stream, the bag tax, which was restored to Anacostia river cleanup after those who fought for it raised a ruckus when then-mayor Adrian Fenty tried to use it for something else). In such desperate fiscal times, however, the District's general fund is a voracious thing.

On Wednesday, solar advocates and installers gathered for a meeting with the District Department of the Environment to get some clarity on what was going to happen with the rebate program–none of the applicants had even been notified that their subsidies were in danger (a majority have said that they can't foot the entire bill themselves). They learned that DDOE was planning on introducing legislation to reprogram some $800,000 to re-supply the fund, which is expected to get support from Councilmembers Tommy Wells and Mary Cheh. Even then, the subsidy could be cut from $3 per kilowatt to as low as 50 cents. But there are no promises, and the group left still disappointed.

"From the point of view of solar, there's been no sign of any vision or leadership, whatsoever," said solar advocate Anya Schoolman, of DDOE director Christophe Tulou. "It's frustrating, because i felt like we were just on the verge of being able to tell that success story. And now we're starting from scratch."

P.S. Neighborhood coops aren't the only solar boosters who've been let down in D.C. lately. Solar decathlon contestants have been agitating to get their event restored to the National Mall, with over 4,000 letters and emails signed so far.

Dramatic staging ground no longer. (www.solardecathlon.gov)

Yesterday, DCist passed along the news that the Solar Decathlon–the competitive annual event showcasing innovations in solar technology–was looking for another site this year, since the Department of Energy and National Park Service had decided that it would negatively impact the long-term health of the National Mall, which has hosted the event in the four times it has taken place since 2002. Competitors, needless to say, are not happy. And who would be? There are few more exciting staging grounds for something you've put as much time into as building a ridiculously cool zero-energy house.

It's certainly possible, of course, that the beleaguered Mall does deserve a rest. As such, I wondered whether the National Park Service would be issuing fewer permits overall this year, or if the Decathlon would be the only thing canceled. The only source for this information is the always-cheery NPS spokesman Bill Line. Asked directly, he responded:

The National Park Service (NPS) applauds the Department of Energy (DOE) for recognizing the larger goal of sustainability, but also for DOE's recognition of the need for sustainability on the National Mall. The NPS also applauds the recent events this past summer and fall where event sponsors encouraged attendees to clean up after themselves. The NPS will work with all Special Events sponsors–as differentiated and distinguished from Free Speech/1st Amendment/Right to Demonstrate against or for government policy–to ensure all events have less impact on the National Mall so that all Americans and  international visitors who come to the National Mall can enjoy the National Mall. The NPS is asking all permit applicants' help with sustainability and to help maintain the National Mall in a manner so that all Americans and international visitors have access to a National Mall that is welcoming to all. One of the goals of the National Mall Plan is to make the National Mall a great civic space so that all Americans and all international visitors can take in, enjoy and feel a sense of pride in the National Mall.

So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. The Park Service applauds the Decathlon's relocation, and has no comment on whether or not more events will be moved to preserve the grass.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s home, image by afagen, Flickr Creative Commons

What happens to the Solar Decathlon houses after the competition’s over?

Team California’s so-called “Refract House” looks like it belongs high up in the Hollywood Hills, overlooking Los Angeles.

The structure was easily one of the most gorgeous in this year’s Solar Decathlon competition, held recently on the National Mall. (See picture below.)   Shaped like a crooked U, it’s flooded with light around every corner. The exterior walls are made of iconic redwood. And the doors open onto an expansive porch with dune-like grasses around the edge.

“Refract” was no cinch to build; nor was it cheap. In addition to the $100,000 given to each of the 21 contending university teams to build “houses that use innovative, high-tech elements in ingenious ways,” Team California raised roughly $350,000 more to construct its house, and $1.4 million overall for other costs, including travel expenses to Washington, D.C.

So it’s easy to understand why after all that time and preparation—not to mention the new nationwide “obsession” with all things green—the house may end up not in a neighborhood near you, but on display thousands of miles away. In Santiago, Chile.

Not following the logic? By the time this article comes out in print, the Solar Decathlon will be over and the teams will be facing a strange reality: After two years designing, constructing, and perfecting their homes, they must now dismantle them, and hope they’ll eventually be put back together with a worthwhile post-competition purpose.

A surprisingly large number of teams contacted for this article had yet to finalize plans for their houses following the competition, which is run by the U.S. Department of Energy. And, when Washington City Paper posed questions on this subject to DOE spokesperson Tom Welch, he seemed a bit befuddled by the prospect that the houses would, or should, have any sort of immediate future—a sign that “ingenious,” environmentally friendly housing is still the stuff of contests more than anything.

“My honest reaction is that might be a little premature,” he said. Only later did he offer a better, if blander, response about the competition’s real-life impact: “These students—it’s like training a workforce,” he said. “They go out and start their own businesses.”

It’s true, the Decathlon has given birth to five companies composed of team members from the previous three competitions, staged in 2002, 2005, and 2007, according to the event’s chief coordinator and creator, Richard King.

For example, students from the 2005 Cornell University team founded a green architecture firm, called ZeroEnergy Design, based in Boston.

But still: What to do with this year’s houses, now?

Team California's house

Team California has two things planned, says member Allison Kopf, 20, a student at Santa Clara University, which collaborated with California College of the Arts. First, the house likely will be reassembled in downtown San Jose, “just available for the public to go through,” says Kopf. Then, after six months, it will journey to Santiago to be reinstalled at the U.S. Embassy, as an example of American innovation. Apparently, the U.S. ambassador to Chile had strolled through Team California’s 2007 Decathlon entry and wanted it erected on embassy grounds, but that didn’t work out. This time, the ambassador staked an early claim—though nothing is set in stone yet.

“We’re working on all of it,” Kopf said in an interview during the competition’s final week.

That line is echoed by graduate student Tim Lentz, 25, of Iowa State University, which plans to sell its house to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. The team has an outstanding $140,000 loan, and it needs to recoup some money as part of the deal.

Iowa State University's Solar Decathlon Entry

Under that arrangement, the “Interlock House,” which has plenty of ramps and was created to appeal to seniors, would be reassembled in a park near Des Moines, about 30 minutes from the school’s Ames campus.

“We’re trying to keep it in the area so we can use it for research,” said Lentz.

This year’s Cornell team just sold its house over the weekend—also to secure some cash to pay off debt, according King.

“Cornell had it advertised on their Web site that they wanted to sell it. That’s the easiest way to raise money,” he says.

At least one school had the foresight to consider its house’s eventual landing spot—with real, live inhabitants—from the very beginning.

When Rice University in Houston applied to the competition, it planned to donate its house to a local non-profit. The group, Project Row Houses, allows artists and single mothers to move into small, old “shotgun”-style homes and other properties clustered in the city’s Third Ward, not far from campus. (Full disclosure: I graduated from Rice.)

Rice hopes eventually to build three nearly identical properties and possibly a larger house nearby, all for the Project Row Houses community, according to Allison Elliott, 21, a Rice senior.

Valued at $140,000, Rice’s house was, by far, the cheapest entry—the only one in the “up to $250,000” category. The average cost per house was $490,000, according to King.

“We really wanted to show the public that solar panels and solar power would be something anyone could use—to show people that solar is not out of their reach,” says Elliott.

(That is, if you want to live in a house that looks a little like a shiny shipping container, albeit with a porch.)

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s home was built on the design principals of a “passive house,” a “very well-insulated, virtually air-tight building that is primarily heated by passive solar gain and by internal gains from people, electrical equipment, etc.,” as the Passive House Institute describes the philosophy. In simpler terms: Think thick walls and well-sealed windows that trap in heat, says Tim Moran, 28, an engineering and architecture graduate school student.

“Solar power is expensive; insulation is cheap,” adds Moran.

While developing its house, Illinois hooked up with Homeway Homes, a modular homebuilder with sales centers throughout the Midwest. Working with team members and the Passive House Institute, the company will create an inspired modular home model in the next year or so, according to Moran.

As for the Decathlon house itself, Moran says it’s staying close to campus, on the grounds of a hotel inside the Research Park at the University of Illinois, where companies work on collaborative projects with students.

Decathlon officials seem as if they couldn’t care less what happens to the houses, as long as they’re put to some kind of good use.
“We don’t score that,” says Decathlon director King.