About SDE 21/22
Initiated in 2002 by the United States Department of Energy, the Solar Decathlon (SD) is a university-level student competition for resource-responsible and energy-efficient architecture and engineering in the building sector. The competition challenges universities from all over the world to design, build and operate a solar-powered and energetically self-sufficient home equipped with advanced technologies, and designed to the highest standards of sustainability.
The Energy Endeavour Foundation, with the designated SDE21>>22 Host City, Wuppertal, Germany solicited proposals from post-secondary educational institutions that not only address participation in the Competition but also include a research and development (R&D) component to achieve this critical outcome.
Get the highest score and win the competition! The Solar Decathlon Europe competition consists of 10 contests. The student team that achieves the highest combined score will win! In this edition, 5 of the 10 contests focused on the urban challenges. The other 5 contests focused on the Architecture, Communication, Comfort, Sustainability and Energy Performance. Click on one of the videos below and find out what each contest is about!
The Solar Decathlon Europe competition consists of 10 contests. The student team that achieves the highest combined score will win! Find out how we performed on each contest.
SUM competed with 17 student teams from 11 different countries in the Solar Decathlon Europe Competition. Together, we are all transfering knowledge, research and experiment in the field of renewable energy and solar energy. Let's build a sustainable future together! Meet the teams!
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The Delft University of Technology is the largest and oldest Dutch public technical university, located in Randstad in the Netherlands. TU Delft being an internationally oriented university is reflected well in SUM, since its members originate from more than 19 different countries.
The participation in the Solar Decathlon (Europe) is strategically integrated into the curriculum and the broader strategy of the university. According to the TU Delft Strategic Framework 2018-2024, the TU Delft desires to strengthen their partnerships and increase their involvement in societal challenges and international developments. Their ambition is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations and the TU Delft strives to create an impact for a better society.
The TU Delft Strategic Framework defines impact as: “For us, impact can take many forms and can be found everywhere: from technological breakthroughs and practical applications to intangible cultural value and education; from political, social, economic, and environmental changes to the intrinsic value that society assigns to knowledge itself.” The vision of TU Delft is to contribute to solving the global challenges by combining science, engineering and design.
The Delft Solar Decathlon teams brings together students, researchers, professors and professionals, developing innovative and future-proof technologies. The Delft Solar Decathlon is envisioned as a learning and researching laboratory, where students, researchers, teachers and professors come together. The SDE prototypes are the result of an intense work and research towards sustainable and innovative solutions. This is possible through intense collaboration and cooperation. To this day, many TU Delft students and teachers have worked, are still working together, on the SDE prototypes.
Our aim is to document, maintain and spread this goldmine of information within our TU Delft SDE Teams. The Delft Solar Decathlon is envisioned as the legal entity that Solar Decathlon teams conduct their business with, saving new teams the intensive administrative work that comes with the establishment.
By connecting with researchers and education from the TU Delft, the goal is set to make the prototypes the practictal experimentation ground that enables students and professionals to learn about creating a future proof built environment.
The Delft Solar Decathlon legacy now consists of three student teams: Prêt-à-Loger (2014), MOR (2019), and SUM (2022). Prêt-à-Loger developed a renovation strategy for the typical Dutch row houses, MOR created a renovation strategy for empty office buildings. Currently, in the third episode of TU Delft's participation in the Solar Decathlon Europe, SUM is working on a renovation strategy for 847,000 tenement flats. These solutions and renovation strategies shows how many opportunities the Solar Decathlon offers to students and companies to contribute to innovation within the built environment.
