US Department of Energy Race to Zero Student Design Competition
The US Department of Energy (DOE) Race to Zero Student Design competition (Race to Zero) engages undergraduates, grad students, and university faculty to become part of a new leadership movement to achieve truly sustainable homes. The competition is based on a real-world scenario where a builder needs to update an existing product line (house plan) to a high-performance house design or is developing a new high performance home product line. The mandatory performance target is the DOE Zero Energy Ready Home specification.
The 2015 Race to Zero Student Design competition held on April 18-20, 2015 at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, CO, had 33 teams from 27 US and Canadian universities competing to design cost-effective, zero energy homes for mainstream builders. The Grainger CEME-supported team was one of four grand winner finalists with their entry, “The Suncatcher Cottage” a redesign of a building on the grounds of University of Illinois owned Allerton Park.