Visit the Solar Decathlon in Washington, DC!

EESI strongly encourages Congressional staff and the public to visit the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon, located just south of the new MLK memorial near the tidal basin . The Solar Decathlon is a competition among university teams to design, build, and operate net-zero energy homes (homes that produce as much energy as they use). The event prepares students to enter our nation’s clean energy workforce and educates the public on the many ways we can improve our buildings: making them more energy- and water-efficient, comfortable, resilient to extreme weather, and healthy in terms of indoor air quality – all while maintaining attractiveness and affordability.

Congressional staff are invited to a special preview day on Thursday, September 22

On September 22, free shuttles will run every 15 minutes from House side (Garfield Circle / Maryland and 1st St, SW) and Senate side (Peace Circle / Pennsylvania and 1st St, NW) to the Solar Decathlon.

• Click here to download a flier for September 22 events and transportation (OPEN TO CONGRESSIONAL STAFF ONLY)

The Solar Decathlon is open to the public September 23 - October 2

Free shuttles will run from the Smithsonian metro stop from 9:30 a.m.–3:30 p.m. on weekdays and 9:30 a.m.–6:30 p.m. on weekends. The schedule for the Solar Decathlon public exhibits is:

• Weekdays: 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
• Weekends: 10:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.

The teams participating in this year’s Solar Decathlon are:

• Appalachian State University
• Florida International University
• Middlebury College
• The Ohio State University
• Parsons The New School for Design and Stevens Institute of Technology
• Purdue University
• The Southern California Institute of Architecture and California Institute of Technology
• Team Florida: The University of South Florida, Florida State University, The University of Central Florida, and The University of Florida
• Team Massachusetts: Massachusetts College of Art and Design and the University of Massachusetts at Lowell
• Team New Jersey: Rutgers - The State University of New Jersey and New Jersey Institute of Technology
• Team New York: The City College of New York
• Tidewater Virginia: Old Dominion University and Hampton University
• University of Hawaii
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• University of Maryland
• The University of Tennessee
• New Zealand: Victoria University of Wellington
• Team Belgium: Ghent University
• Team Canada: University of Calgary
• Team China: Tongji University

Click here to see photos from the previous Solar Decathlon. (If you're not already a fan of EESI on Facebook, just click "Like" and you'll be able to see the photos!)

For more information, visit www.solardecathlon.gov .