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Latest News and Video From The Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon Competition on the National Mall

VIDEO: You can now view and download the latest broadcast-quality video footage from the Solar Decathlon competition, including virtual tours of each home and soundbites from members of each team, at the following address: http://stratacomm.net/solar-decathlon/videos.html

NEWS: U.S. Dept. of Energy hosts cutting-edge green technology and design competition on National Mall

FORMAT: B-roll and Soundbites

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: http://www.prnewswire.com/broadcast/39848/press.html

STORY SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is hosting the 2009 Solar Decathlon on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., where 20 University Teams are competing to design, build, and operate the most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered house.

The Solar Decathlon is one of the DOE's signature programs to promote cutting edge design and green technology. The competition will take over the National Mall in October (9-13 & 15-18) in an unprecedented display of green innovation and design, as the teams construct a one-of-a-kind solar village.

Each team had to transport their solar house to the competition site and virtually rebuild them in the solar village. More than 800 students will be competing in ten contests that evaluate the architecture, engineering, comfort, marketability, appliances, lighting and other aspects of the houses. All of the houses are Zero Energy Homes (ZEH), which produce as much energy as they consume. Teams will have to perform everyday tasks such as cooking, laundry and washing dishes to test the energy efficiency of their homes. Plus, for the first time the solar village will be connected to a micro-grid constructed on the Mall and connected to Pepco, and the houses will be able to push extra energy into the DC grid.

The 20 teams competing are: Cornell University, Iowa State University, Penn State, Rice University, The University of Arizona, The Ohio State University, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Virginia Tech, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid (Team Spain), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Kentucky, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Team Alberta, Team Boston, Team California, Team Missouri, Technische Universitat Darmstadt (Team Germany) and Team Ontario/BC.

The public is invited to tour the homes and exhibits during much of the competition before the winner is announced on Friday, Oct. 16. For more information and current standings, visit: www.solardecathlon.org.

SOUNDBITES:

    --  Steven Chu, Secretary of Energy

    --  Student representative from all 20 teams

B-ROLL INCLUDES: *aerial shots of the solar village and monuments on the National Mall *virtual tour of each house

VIDEO PROVIDED BY: U.S. Department of Energy

SOURCE U.S. Department of Energy