Peking University, May 5, 2011: The launch ceremony of the International Solar Decathlon Competition was held at PKU. It gathered over 200 representatives from China National Energy Administration (NEA), U.S. Department of Energy (U.S. DOE), domestic and foreign well-known energy companies, local governments and domestic well-known colleges and universities. Co-sponsored by China’s NEA and U.S. DOE, the competition was undertaken by Peking University and supported by the business community.
The launch ceremony
Since first held in the U.S. in 2002, International Solar Decathlon Competition has been held for five times. Universities worldwide participate in this competition. Contestants are required to design and construct a home with solar energy being the sole source of energy and life. The competition carries out a comprehensive assessment of energy saving, building physics, environmental control and energy fully self-sufficiency. Through synthesizing ten aspects, the final overall ranking of the competition is determined—that is why it is called "Decathlon" Competition, known as the Olympic in the field of solar energy.
Wu Guihui, Chief Engineer of National Energy Administration, talked about the significance of the competition, and noted that its being held in China indicated that Chinese government had attached importance to new applications and low-carbon energy technology promotion, effectively shouldering the responsibility of energy saving and actively advocating green and sustainable development. Moreover, he added that the introduction of the competition into China also promoted China’s importation of world's leading new energy technologies, further improved China’s competitive power in clean energy area, and also provided a great opportunity for different cities to implement the concept of “green, clean and environmental” and benefit the wide application of new energies.
PKU President Zhou Qifeng said that China had made considerable progress in the new energy field in recent years. He said that the government's encouragement and support provided a healthy social atmosphere and thus the academia had increased the intensity of green energy research, and the domestic energy companies also had grown rapidly. He added that the introduction of International Solar Decathlon competition into China provided an opportunity for China to improve the application of new energies. He pointed out that the goal of International Solar Decathlon Competition echoed PKU’s concept of Green Campus. PKU would do its best in organizing the contest and promoting new energy technology research.
Professor Chen Shiyi, Dean of the Graduate School of PKU and Dean of College of Engineering, introduced the international Solar Decathlon Competition in detail. China’s International Solar Decathlon Competition would be held in relevant cities in 2013. This would be the first time for the International Solar Decathlon Competition to settle in Asia. Chen pointed out that the preceding Solar Decathlon competitions all attracted wide attention and caused a great sensation. He hoped that this time in China, it could also offer a stage for Chinese universities and companies to exhibit themselves and promote the development of environmental protection.
For a more detailed understanding of the International Solar Decathlon Competition, at the launching ceremony site Richard King, project director of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon competition, was also contacted. Sara Farrar-Nagy, U.S. International Renewable Energy Laboratory, shared experience for China to learn from to successfully carry out the competition.
Previous competitions have all been successfully held with the support of many well-known enterprises and sponsorship. So far, the competition has got sponsorship from Applied Material, Schneider and Optony.
President Zhou together with Mr. Martin Schoenbauer, Executive Director of U.S. Department of Energy's China office, watered the sunflowers to get the flower wheel start rotating, which announced the official launching of China’s International Solar Decathlon Competition.
Written by: Liu Lu
Edited by: Chen Miaojuan
Source: PKU News (Chinese)
