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Solar-powered greenhouse part of Solar Decatholon Europe 2012

One of the 20 international projects competing at the prestigious Solar Decathlon Europe 2012 is a low-cost, self-sufficient greenhouse based on the principles of zero ecological and zero economic footprints.

 
The greenhouse is sponsored by Spain-based Siliken, a developer of solutions for the solar photovoltaic (PV) energy sector, and designed by a team from the Higher Technical School of Architecture of Vallés (ETSAV, part of the Technical University of Catalonia).

The ETSAV’s technical team is comprised of 50 professionals whose prototype must pass a series of ten tests to demonstrate its sustainable construction. The greenhouse is 150 m².

The Solar Decathlon competition is based in California, and funded by the US Department of Energy. It has branched out to Solar Decathlon Europe and Solar Decathlon China.

Solar Decathlon Europe is an international competition in which universities from all over the world design, build and present energy self-sufficient buildings powered by solar and equipped with energy efficiency technology. The competition is organized by the Spanish Ministry of Public Works in collaboration with the Technical University of Madrid and the U.S. Energy Department.

Solar Decathlon Europe projects, located at the ‘Villa Solar’ in the Casa de Campo park in Madrid, can be visited from September 17th, 2012, through September 30th, 2012.

The participating teams are:

The American University in Cairo (Egypt)

Arts et Métiers ParisTech (France)

Budapest University of Technology and Economics (Hungary)

Chiba University (Japan)

Delft University of Technology (Netherlands)

École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Grenoble (France)

Hochschule Konstanz University of Applied Sciences (Germany)

London Metropolitan University (United Kingdom)

Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway)

RWTH Aachen University (Germany)

Team Andalucía: Universidad de Sevilla, Universidad de Granada, Universidad de Malaga, and Universidad de Jaén (Spain)

Team Brasil: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina and Universidade de São Paulo

Team Bucharest 2012: “Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urbanism, Politehnica University of Bucharest, and Technical University of Civil Engineering of Bucharest (Romania)

Team Rome: Roma Tre University and Sapienza Università di Roma (Italy)

Technical University of Denmark (Denmark)

Tongji University (China)

Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera (Spain)

Universidad del País Vasco—Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (Spain)

Universidade do Porto (Portugal)

Universitat Politécnica de Catalunya (Spain)