Solar Decathlon Shines on Nation's Capital

The University of Maryland WaterShed house, pictured above, was the overall winner of the fifth Solar Decathlon at West Potomac Park in Washington, D.C.

The United States Department of Energy continues to encourage clean energy innovation in America through its loan guarantee program and events like the Solar Decathlon  -- an international collegiate competition to build the best solar-powered house.

The University of Maryland won this year's event, which took place from Sept. 23 to Oct. 2 at West Potomac Park in Washington, D.C. The home, called WaterShed,  is "a model of how the built environment can help preserve watersheds everywhere by managing storm water onsite, filtering pollutants from greywater, and minimizing water use," according to the DOE Solar Decathlon website.

Besides UMD, the teams, representing 13 countries, five states and four continents, impressed the judges in 10 contests over nine days.

Last weekend I paid a visit to the Solar Decathlon and toured some of the eco-friendly homes. There were also demonstrations of electric vehicles, EV charging stations, wind turbines and solar panels.

Here are photos from the Solar Decathlon at West Potomac Park. To read image descriptions, click on Solar Decathlon set or an individual picture to be taken to the Flickr page.