by Brianna Crandall — April 25, 2016 — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced on Friday the winners of its third annual Race to Zero Student Design Competition, a collegiate competition engaging university students to design zero-energy-ready homes. The DOE defines a zero-energy-ready home as a high-performance home that is so energy efficient it can offset all or most of its annual energy consumption with renewable energy. This significantly reduces a home’s annual electricity costs while improving comfort, health, safety, and durability.
The competition was held at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado, April 16-17, with the intention to inspire next-generation architects, engineers, and construction managers to apply the latest building science innovations in new and existing homes. The awards recognize students who excel at integrating solid building-science principles into designs for zero-energy-ready homes including creative solutions to real-world problems.
This year’s competition featured 31 teams from 25 universities. Over the past several months, students were tasked with creating a new house design or redesigning an existing floor plan to meet the competition’s cost-effective, high-performance home energy requirements. The final portion of the competition concluded at NREL, as the students presented their innovative designs to a panel of national experts.
Below are the top winners in each contest:
Grand Winner
- Prairie View A&M University — Green Future Team, Double Barrel Project, Prairie View, TX
Suburban Single-Family Housing Contest
- 1st place: Appalachian State University — Team (Re)Connect, Resilient House Project, Boone, NC
- 2nd place: Philadelphia University — Emergence team, House II Project, Philadelphia, PA
Urban Single-Family Housing Contest
- 1st place: Prairie View A&M University — Green Future Team, Double Barrel Project, Prairie View, TX
- 2nd place: University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee — Net Zero Wisconsin Team, Forward House Project, Madison and Milwaukee, WI
Attached Housing Contest
- 1st place: Philadelphia University — PhilaU Powered to Zero Team, New Affordable Zero Homes Project, Philadelphia, PA
- 2nd place: Illinois Institute of Technology — Net-Zero IIT Team, Net-Zero IIT Town Housing Project, Chicago, IL
Small Multifamily Housing Contest
- 1st place: Ryerson University — True North Design Team, Eastern Pine Project, Toronto, ON, Canada
- 2nd place: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign — Team LINKoln, LINKoln Locale Project, Champaign, IL
A major goal of the competition is to advance building science curriculum in university programs across the country. Competing undergraduate students, graduate students, and university faculty are at the forefront of a leadership movement to design truly sustainable homes and buildings.
Criteria for recognition included adherence to the Department’s Zero Energy Ready Home program criteria, clear project plans, and overall competency in applying best practices from the DOE’s Building America program. Top priorities for each entry are geared toward developing cost-effective, market-ready, zero energy ready homes.
DOE also announced it will hold the 2017 Race to Zero Student Design Competition next April at NREL. View the program Web site to learn more about the competition.
