Last week, we traveled to Washington DC for the SD Schematic Design Workshop (May 21-23). On Friday evening, Richard King (SD Founder and Director) gave an opening presentation to welcome us all to the Solar Decathlon community. Saturday began bright and early. We ate breakfast together, then arrived at our team table by 8am. Looking sharp and feeling energized, we were ready for the day. The schedule was structured around 20 informational sessions, each with at least one DOE representative who rotated tables to introduce him/herself, offer design feedback, and answer questions. We covered topics from DC electric to health and safety, and the affordability contest to web design and event planning. By 6pm, we were finished with the sessions. After a long day of absorbing information, we ate some yummy BBQ food, then hit the hay.
On Sunday morning we headed over to the National Mall to meet up with the Health and Safety Officer for a tour of our site. It was really exciting to see our lot (#7) in person and envision all the hours we'll be spending there in 16 months. Then we visited the National Building Museum to see the Solar Decathlon exhibition of the 20 finalists. We met up with several alumni to share our project and show them our model and display board. It was neat to speak with former students and embrace the Middlebury College community. It was also fascinating to see the other teams’ models in person – the design strategies are quite distinct and diverse. After the exhibition visit, it was time to head home. All in all, the DC workshop made for a great trip; it was quick, jam-packed with useful resources, and exciting to meet everyone face to face.
Now, with a core group of students back at Midd, it's time to get back to work. Priority tasks include: initiating creative and effective fundraising efforts, designing our team website, and choosing a new name for our house (Team Appalachia had the same name of “Solar Homestead”). Our next submission deadline is August 17th for the website (minimum of 3 text pages), and the next SD conference will be in January in Florida. The momentum is building and so is our to-do list, so stay tuned for more updates as our project progresses. And as always, thanks so much for your support – we really appreciate it!
