astronomy

Solar Decathlon

Solar Decathlon is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Solar Decathlon rather than just read about it. In short: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Decathlon is a collegiate competition, comprising 10 contests, that challenges student teams to design and build highly efficient and innovative buildings powered by renewable energy.

Key takeaways

Solar Decathlon belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Solar Decathlon to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Solar Decathlon from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Decathlon is a collegiate competition, comprising 10 contests, that challenges student teams to design and build highly efficient and innovative buildings powered by renewable energy. The winners are selected based for the best blending of design architectural and engineering excellence with innovation, market potential, building efficiency, and smart energy production. In the summer of 2018, DOE merged its two student building design competitions into one Solar Decathlon competition. The combined competition features two tracks, the Design Challenge and the Build Challenge. The Solar Decathlon provides practical experience and specialized training that prepares competing students to enter the clean energy workforce. This international competition has been a vehicle in raising public awareness about clean energy since its inception in 2002. Technologies and solutions used in Solar Decathlon homes have advanced the residential building industry both in the United States and abroad. After the first Solar Decathlon was held in 2002, the competition occurred biennially in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017. The Solar Decathlon 2017 was located in Denver, Colorado, adjacent to the 61st & Peña station on the University of Colorado A line commuter train connecting Denver International Airport to downtown Union Station. In addition to the competition, Solar Decathlon 2017 also featured a sustainability expo, professional development and consumer workshops, and middle-school education events. Open to the public and free of charge, the Solar Decathlon allows visitors to tour energy- and water-efficient houses, and gather ideas to save energy and conserve water in their own homes. The Solar Decathlon 2017 competition was presented by DOE and administered by Energetics, Incorporated, a subsidiary of VSE Corporation. Previous competitions were administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Since the first competition in 2002, the Solar Decathlon has expanded internationally to include competitions in Europe, China, Latin America and Caribbean, the Middle East, and Africa. Solar Decathlon Europe was established under a 2007 memorandum of understanding between the United States and Spain, which hosted competitions in 2010 and 2012. France hosted in 2014. The Solar Decathlon Europe 2019 was hosted by Hungary in Szentendre. The next Solar Decathlon Europe was planned for 2021, in Wuppertal, Germany and postponed to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Solar Decathlon China was established with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between DOE, China’s National Energy Administration, Peking University and Applied Materials on January 20, 2011. The first Solar Decathlon China took place in August 2013 in the city of Datong. The next Solar Decathlon China will take place in 2018 and was formed through a memorandum of understanding among the United States Department of Energy, the People’s Republic of China, and the China Overseas Development Corporation. Solar Decathlon Latin America and Caribbean was established under a memorandum of understanding between the United States Department of Energy and the government of Colombia in 2014. The first competition was held in Cali in December 2015, and another competition is planned for 2019. Solar Decathlon Middle East, to be held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in 2018, was formed by a memorandum of understanding between DOE and the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority in 2015. An additional Solar Decathlon Middle East is also expected to take place in 2020. On November 15, 2016, the Moroccan Ministry of Energy, Mines, Water, and the Environment (MEMEE); the Moroccan Research Institute for Solar Energy and New Energies (IRESEN); and DOE signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on the development of Solar Decathlon Africa. The competition is planned for 2019.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Solar Decathlon

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Solar Decathlon claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Solar Decathlon before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Solar Decathlon ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Solar Decathlon

In research: Solar Decathlon appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Solar Decathlon in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Solar Decathlon is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2002 establishments in the United States, Solar Decathlon, Solar architecture, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Solar Decathlon outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Solar Decathlon in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Solar Decathlon means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Solar Decathlon out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Solar Decathlon in simple terms?

Why does Solar Decathlon matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Solar Decathlon?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Solar Decathlon.