A Four-Day Convention and Trade Show for

Residential Design Professionals

___

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

SOLAR DECATHLON 2011 FINALISTS:

A special Pacific NW exhibition

     Ten years ago this spring, the U.S. Department of Energy invited colleges and universities to compete in the inaugural Solar Decathlon, a competition to design, build, and demonstrate a solar-powered house on the National Mall. Since the first Solar Decathlon in the fall of 2002, the program has unleashed the creative power of architecture and engineering students to rethink the role of energy efficiency—and solar power in particular—in home design and raised public awareness on the topic. The Solar Decathlon challenges student teams to integrate reliable and efficient solar power with excellent design, resourceful engineering, and affordable systems.

    The teams in this exhibition have already competed against their peers for one of the 20 places in the solar village. To secure a spot on the Mall, each team submitted extensive proposals, including models of their conceptual designs. With Solar Decathlon 2011 still more than a year away, all are hard at work designing their houses. The AIBD Convention is the only Pacific Northwest opportunity to view these models first hand.

    The teams competing in Solar Decathlon 2011 are the most diverse yet, representing five countries on four continents, illustrating the promise of solar energy in a variety of geographic locations and climates.

   [Click here for Solar Decathlon registration]

____

Delivering this year’s keynote address is Butch Gaudette, Chief Development Officer and Dean of Green Builder College, at Green Builder Media.  Butch joins GBM after twenty-three years with Whirlpool Corporation where he built extensive industry relationships while serving as Director of Trade Relations.  Now that he’s no longer a corporate citizen, he can tell us what manufacturers are really thinking about our industry.  Corporations are taking different approaches in all areas of business; marketing, advertising, trade shows, and sustainable “green” products and design are at the forefront. Butch says, “The whole product and material supplier approach to the future is changing.”  He’s going to give us his take on the metamorphosis of our industry.