Introducing the Virtual Solar Decathlon

Hypothetical solar power near Hancock Tower in Boston

At the ACE Hackathon event on April 28, we introduced the concept of the Virtual Solar Decathlon to students at Phillips Academy who are interested in sustainable development.

Hypothetical solar canopies at Andover High School

The U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon challenges 20 collegiate teams to design, build, and operate solar-powered houses that are forward-thinking and cost-effective. Such a project, however, may take up to a year to complete and cost up to $250,000.

PS20 solar power tower in Seville, Spain

For a few years, I have been thinking about creating a high school equivalent of the Solar Decathlon that costs nothing, takes a much shorter time, and allows everyone to participate. The result of this thinking process is the Virtual Solar Decathlon that can now be supported by our Energy3D CAD software (and increasingly so as we added new features to allow more clean energy technologies to be simulated and designed). The goal of the Virtual Solar Decathlon is to turn the entire Google Earth into a simulation-based engineering lab of renewable energy and engage students to change their world by tackling energy problems (at least virtually) that matter deeply to their lives.

Here is the link to our presentation at Phillips Academy.