MADRID, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- The house built by the Rhone Alpes team has been named as the winner of the 2012 Solar Decathlon Europe competition held in the Spanish capital city of Madrid.
The Solar Decathlon sees teams from 18 different universities from all over the world build houses which function purely on solar energy.
The different houses, which were constructed in the Casa del Campo park in Madrid, had to pass a series of 10 different tests, hence the name Solar Decathlon, in fields such as Innovation, Functionability, Communications, Comfort etc, with the scores from each individual competition added up to find the overall winner.
The Rhone Alpes project went beyond the design of a single house, with the French team developing the concept of a 'Nanotower' which consists of small towers holding an individual dwelling on each floor with the top floor holding a common laundry, a summer kitchen and a community area for residents.
The idea of the Rhone Alpes project was in response to problems regarding population density in the alpine corridor.
The Spanish 'Andalusia Team,' finished in second place with their Patio 2.12 project, while Italy's 'Med in Italy,' finished third.
The Chinese team from Tongji University finished 11th overall in the competition. The Solar Decathlon 2014 will move north to be held in France.
|
