If this statement is being represented accurately, it would not only put Chu directly at odds with Obama administration policy, it would mean that he doesn’t really believe in how his department is distributing their $36.7 billion dollar slice of stimulus funds. The statement would also contradict Chu’s previous stances on biofuels development. Comment from DOE was not immediately available, but I’ve got a request in to confirm or deny the statement as accurate. I’ll update as soon as I hear word.

Update 8:00 PM Pacific Time 10/13/2009: DOE’s Director of Public Affairs, Dan Leistikow, responded to my request from earlier today in an email, saying “I can’t verify the quote the blogger is using from an undisclosed source at an undisclosed meeting, which is at best wildly out of context.” He also added, “Anyone who has spent five minutes listening to Secretary Chu also knows he is one of the country’s staunchest advocates for pursuing a broad portfolio of clean energy research, and has warned against investing all our resources in a single technology to the exclusion of all others.”

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The solar capacity of the National Mall in Washington D.C. has increased exponentially in just a week as teams of college students from 20 international schools hurriedly reassembled their submissions for the fourth ever Solar Decathlon, a competition in which students must create “the most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered house.” The three-week event kicked of yesterday with an opening ceremony that featured a speech from Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who announced an additional $87 million solar-targeted award for solar energy projects. Here’s a look at some of the impressive solar submissions and the opening day events.

“Decathletes,” as the decathlon participants are called, began construction on October 1, 2009, a full week before the start of the competition. Each house was designed to be deconstructed and then reassembled for the event. The components of each house travel from each team’s school and are reconstituted as the solar-powered homes lining “Decathlete Way” on the National Mall.

Image Credit: Stefano Paltera from USDOE on Flickr under a Creative Commons license

Finishing Touches

Solar Decathlon teams hail from all over the continental United States as well as Puerto Rico, Germany, Spain, and Canada.

Here, a member of Team Spain puts the finishing touches on the roof its modern-style solar home. An inverted glass pyramid outfitted with photovoltaic panels and solar water heating collectors rests atop the house via a ball-and-socket mechanism. A solar tracking device orients the pyramid structure as the sun changes throughout the day to achieve the highest efficiency.

Image Credit: Stefano Paltera from USDOE on Flickr under a Creative Commons license

Energy Efficient House, Water Efficient Plants

The Solar Decathlon is designed to call attention to the enormous energy challenge that the world faces as well as empower young people to create solutions to the world’s energy problems. The competition has six main goals: 1) to educate; 2) to raise public awareness about clean energy, energy efficiency, and solar, in particular; 3) to hasten the entrance of solar technology into the marketplace; 4) to foster student collaboration among varying academic disciplines; 5) to promote an integrated approach to new construction; and 6) to demonstrate the potential for Zero Energy Homes, which produce as much energy as the consume.

Here, two Cornell University students work on the landscaping outside of “The Silo House,” which was designed to evoke “the character of a post-agrarian meadow.” The team, which boasts 150 members and the school’s third Solar Decathlon submission, is a true testament to “integrated collaboration” combining the creative geniuses of so many to produce a house consisting of three silos that is a net-zero energy user.

Image Credit: Stefano Paltera from USDOE on Flickr under a Creative Commons license

A Wall of Solar

In order to be eligible for judging, each house must be exclusively powered by the sun and energy efficient. Each house must also meet the following criteria: a) attractive and livable; b) maintain a comfortable, healthy interior environment c) contain adequate light; d) power household appliance and home electronic e) provide hot water; f) balance energy production and consumption.

Placing the last solar panel on the roof of their house, Team Germany’s two-story cube shaped house features an 11.1 kw solar façade made out of 40 single-crystal silicon roof panels and 250 thin-film copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) panels on the rest of the exterior. With such a technology intense design, the house cost somewhere in the range of $650,000-$850,000.

Image Credit: Stefano Paltera from USDOE on Flickr under a Creative Commons license

A View with a Purpose

As the name suggests, there ten solar contests in which the teams must compete. The contest categories include: architecture, market viability, engineering, lighting design, communications, comfort zone, hot water, appliances, home entertainment, net metering. The Net Metering contest is worth the most points and uses a utility meter to see how much net energy a given house produces or consumes throughout the competition. The most points are allocated to team who produce more energy than they consume.

The window arrangement in Ohio State’s home not only affords a crystal clear view of the Washington Monument, it is passively designed to take advantage of natural ventilation and day light. Dubbed “Ohio-centric,” by its creators, the house is made from native Ohio materials, contains Whirlpool appliances, and reclaimed barn wood.

Image Credit: Annie Coghill on Flickr under a Creative Commons license

Education on the Run

The Solar Decathlon is a teaching moment for the participants as well as the public. Throughout the competition the solar homes are open to the public in order to teach visitors about the importance of clean energy, solar technology, and energy efficiency. In addition to the contests, the event sponsors offer both solar energy and energy efficiency workshops for consumers and industry professionals. For homeowners, two daytime education exhibits displays the anatomy of a solar house and explain the types of “smart choices that can deliver us into a clean energy future.”

Here, a jogger takes advantage of an impromptu opportunity to learn about solar power and the Solar Decathlon from a University of Louisiana decathlete standing in front of the team’s home, BeauSoleil, which means “sunshine” in Cajun French.

Image Credit: Stefano Paltera from USDOE on Flickr under a Creative Commons license

Perfect Lighting

DOE Secretary of Energy Steven Chu welcomed the decathletes to the capitol city to start off the three-week decathlon. Taking advantage of the opportunity and the receptive crowd, Chu announced the latest round of DOE clean energy award money, this time $87 million to “support the development of new solar energy technologies and the rapid deployment of available carbon-free energy systems. A full $50 million of the award is come from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), also known as the economic stimulus package, and is targeted towards projects that are working to make solar cost-competitive by 2015. The money will support 47 projects in four categories: Solar America Cities special projects, solar installer training, high-penetration solar deployment, and research projects at DOE National Laboratories.

Here, Chu joins Team California in front of “Refract House,” which also employs a passive solar design that is ideally suited to sun-soaked California. The house is more than just an educational tool, with information panels that pose key questions and system that allows guests to access the answers via their cell-phones, the abode is equipped with enough information technology to function as a teacher, as well.

Image Credit: Stefano Paltera from USDOE on Flickr under a Creative Commons license

Let the Games Begin

The solar-powered festivities continue today and through October 18, 2009, when the winner is announced. You can visit the U.S Department of Energy Solar Decathlon home page to learn more about the event, the teams, the contests and to see more solar-inspired photography and multimedia.

Here, all twenty teams collect on Decathlete Way in front of their fully constructed and fully functional solar homes. After two years of hard work, these students have not only created incredible solar projects that are prepared for the intense level of competition, they have also gained skills that will shape the world’s clean energy future.

Image Credit: Stefano Paltera from USDOE on Flickr under a Creative Commons license

After a  White House announcement last April regarding the provision of $777 million to fund 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC’s) advancing innovation in clean energy technology, the Department of Energy (DOE) recognized the completion of the funding process last Thursday. The investment represents a much-needed show of governmental support for the research and development of the numerous energy breakthroughs necessary to transition the U.S from dirty to clean energy.

Among the list of 46, 31 centers are affiliated with universities, twelve are DOE national laboratories, two are non-profit organizations, and one is a corporate research laboratory. In total, the DOE has awarded $377 million in funding this year, with $277 million coming from the economic stimulus package (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act -ARRA) and the additional $100 million provided by the DOE’s FY2009 budget.

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In a Cliff’s Notes version of the myriad incentives, rebates, and tax incentives GREENandSAVE has created a Federal Tax Incentive Decoder and condensed the material to 11 bite sized pages. Best of all, this resource does not cost a dime and can be downloaded at: http://www.greenandsave.com/homecheckup/free_federal_tax_incentive_decoder

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The Guide is filled with lots of information and hundreds of links to sites where more info and funding applications can be found.

The Guide starts by explaining the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) and how it breaks down. Contained within the Guide is info about Green Energy Initiatives (DOE), Tax Credits, Green Environmental Projects (EPA)  Green Transportation Initiatives (DOT), Green Building Initiatives and Green Jobs/Job Training. It provides a modest number of “tips” and information as to how to actually land stimulus money which will be helpful to many people outside the Beltway. One that stuck out to me was contained within the “How To Apply” section:

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