Peking University, Aug. 16, 2013: On August 2, the Solar Decathlon China (SDC) 2013 was officially opened in the city of Datong, Shanxi Province. A huge stage was set up on the steps of the Sun Palace, completing with three video screens. Representatives from National Energy Administration of China, US Department of Energy, Shanxi Province, Datong City, Peking University and SDC sponsor companies witnessed this grand moment together. It also marked the first day of scoring for the competition. In the next couple of weeks, 22 student teams from 13 countries and 35 universities will compete with their solar-powered houses equipped with environmental friendly technologies, hitting a record high in number of participating countries and regions in the history of SD.

The mayor of Datong Li Junming opened the ceremony and spoke about the future – a cleaner, brighter future. "Datong is the second largest city in Shanxi and was known as the 'Capital of Coal'. Now with abundant sunlight resources, we seek to speed up the transformation of going green by hosting this world event,” he said.

Deputy director Zhang Yuqing from the National Energy Administration fully reflected the value of this competition. He noted that China should make full use of solar energy in its urbanization process and strengthen photovoltaic applications to promote energy efficiency of buildings.

Assistant Secretary Danielson from the U.S. Department of Energy said how pleased he was to be in Datong witnessing the first Solar Decathlon in China. He congratulated the City of Datong, together with sponsors and Peking University for making the competition possible.

Zhu Shanlu, Chair of Peking University Council, Chen Shiyi, Dean of PKU Graduate School and Zhang Dongxiao, Dean of PKU College of Engineering were present at the ceremony. Zhu said that universities should play a pioneering role in the construction of energy civilization. He looked forward that these young people could demonstrate and lead this world to make use of clean energy through their own creative ideas.

The Peking University and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign team on stage

Next, all the decathletes were introduced as they paraded across the stage. They wore team uniforms and waved their school and country flags with pride. Representative Dong Lei from Tsinghua University shared his experience of building their house, and said that the whole process they had experienced and the growth and friendship they had gained were more important than the competition result.

SDC sponsors receive certificates from Dean Zhang Dongxiao (1^st from right) of College of Engineering

Representing the host, Zhang Dongxiao granted certificates to the sponsor companies Applied Materials, Baoding Tianwei Group and Schneider for their generous support and help to SDC.

Launch of SDC 2013

Finally all the dignitaries were called to the stage to officially start the competition. A huge switch was built that took all five people to lift to turn off the old energy and push until it turned on the new energy. At that moment the video screens exploded with bright sunlight and the first SD China was officially begun.

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About SD

The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon (SD) is an award-winning program that challenges collegiate teams to design, build and operate solar-powered houses that are cost-effective, energy-efficient and attractive. The resulting homes demonstrate to students, the public and industry, that solar-powered houses are fully functional, comfortable and sustainable living spaces. SD aims to promote collaboration in the solar industry and to facilitate innovation and adoption of solar energy and energy-efficiency technologies.

During the competition, the energy consumed by each house is generated by solar energy solutions. The competition will assess the team’s ability to conserve energy, control their physical environment and ability to be fully energy sufficient. Modeled after the Olympic decathlon competition, each home will be evaluated on their performance in ten contests.

SDC 2013 Participating teams:

1.  Tsinghua University and Florida International University (China-United States)

2.  Polytechnic Institute of New York University, Ghent University, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Belgium-United States)

3.  Middle East Technical University (Turkey)

4.  Abbaspour University of Technology and Shanghai University of Engineering Science (Iran- China) 

5.  Peking University and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (China-United States) 

6.  Tel Aviv University, Shenkar College of Engineering and Design, Neri Bloomfield School of Design and Education, College of Management Academic Studies (Israel)

7.  Inner Mongolia University of Technology (China)

8.  Alfred State College and Guilin University of Technology and Alfred University (China-United States)

9.  London Metropolitan University and Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts (England-China)

10.  Shandong Jianzhu University (China)

11.  Shanghai Jiaotong University (China)

12.  South China University of Technology(China)

13.  Southeast University (China) 

14.  University of Wollongong (Australia)

15.  Beijing Jiaotong University and Bern University of Applied Sciences (China-Switzerland)

16.  New Jersey Institute of Technology and Harbin Institute of Technology (United States-China) 

17.  Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden)

18.  Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (Malaysia)

19.  American University in Cairo (Egypt) 

20.  Xiamen University (China)

21.  Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology (China)

22.  National University of Singapore (Singapore).

Among them, the Peking University and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign team will participate in the demonstration instead of competition. American University in Cairo (Egypt) team and Middle East Technical University (Turkey) team won’t join in the competition due to the delay of house materials transportation.

Edited by: Zhang Jiang

Source: College of Engineering