Solar Decathlon 2009

The solar decathlon 2009 is over and yes –Team Germany won – of course. It seems like in soccer, or according to Gary Lineker’s definition of it: “Soccer is a game for 22 people that run around, play the ball, and in the end Germany always wins”.

Joking aside, Team Germany’s second consecutive win was well deserved. I only hope that energy conscious Germany takes it right and won’t become too hyper about it. With all respect for the European efforts for energy efficiency this competition is nevertheless initiated and held nowhere else but on the turf of that country often considered indifferent to energy issues by many Europeans.

In fact I am one of these critical European souls and can only report that consciousness in the US has changed in breathtaking pace over the last couple of years and the Solar Decathlon competition is only one good example.

The crowed seemed to confirm this and came out numerous, willing to wait in line an average of 45 minutes for any pavilion, even in unseasonably chilly weather, overcast and rainy at times – not at all sunny as the event title implies.

Innovation however is to be found in the engineering part rather than in the architecture. The program, a one bedroom studio with reference to a caravan or trailer home, does not really address the way the majority of us in an average four person household lives hence I am afraid that the potential of the competition actually remains overlooked and with it its contemporary outfit.

I wished people went home and thought - oh I really liked what I saw let’s redo and update our homes because they don’t suit our times any more. Yet the residential home market proofs me wrong. It seems that our residential customs are the hardest to crack open. People like such events - but not that much that they would change their own homes and habits.

Perhaps it’s time to raise the bar on the competition and expand the program towards a two to three bedroom single family prefab house. (Prefab only for cost consciousness and freedom of site. A thriving prefab market exists but it has never had its brake through say like an iPod – equally utile, well designed and desired quasi by everyone.) I believe by combining the notion for energy efficiency, customization and applicability for the majority of US households and its urban integration the results were outstandingly innovative, groundbreaking and will bring the change necessary for a more healthy, natural and sustainable lifestyle.