The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is participating as one of the title sponsors for the 2007 Solar Decathlon. The international competition, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is taking place October 12- 20, 2007 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Twenty teams, consisting of students from colleges and universities around the world, are participating in the competition to design, build, and operate energy-efficient homes that are entirely solar-powered. The USGBC is proud to share the organization’s experience and expertise as the developers of the LEED green building rating system with the dedicated student builders in this year’s competition.

USGBC will bring its consensus-developed best practices and technical expertise in high-performance green homebuilding to the event and the teams. USGBC local chapter members will be part of an “Ask the Experts” group that is available to Solar Decathlon attendees. USGBC will also help identify judges for the competition, distribute copies of the LEED for Homes rating system to all student participants, present an award to the team that attains the most points as per LEED for Homes criteria, and host a presentation by the winning team at the Greenbuild International Conference & Expo 2007, which will take place in Chicago, Ill.

As part of the Solar Decathlon, 20 teams will compete in 10 contests to determine an overall winner of the competition, which will be awarded by DOE. With an eye on energy efficiency, the student will carefully choose the systems, products, and appliances used in their solar-powered houses. The houses will be on display in the "solar village," and will be open for public tours 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. weekends and 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. weekdays, except Wednesday, October 17, when the houses will be closed for competition purposes.

For more information about the Solar Decathlon, visit www.solardecathlon.org. Also, USGBC, along with Newland Communities, will be launching a consumer residential website directly following the conclusion of the Solar Decathlon. Visit www.greenhomeguide.org for tips, ideas and green home building and renovation information.