Shortly after former Vice President Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize for his climate change activism, the Solar Decathlon took place in Washington D.C. The two events are not unrelated: The decathlon is a competition among college and university teams to design and build the most energy-efficient house with minimal effect on the environment. The student teams have two years and a budget (the University’s was $500,000; some schools had more than $2 million at their disposal) to design and construct the best house possible.

After two years of hard work, the teams relocate their house from campus to Washington, give tours to judges and receive marks in various subjective and objective categories like architectural style and heating/cooling. This year’s University team placed ninth, led by first-place finishes in the heating and cooling and market viability categories.

While it’s a fun and beneficial experience for the team members, the competition has a higher purpose. Says University team member Sarah Brewer, “The philosophical goals of the contest are to demonstrate to the public and to Washington’s lawmakers that solar power is a viable energy source. It is to not only prove that it works, but that the technology is available and valuable now.” Sarah left an important truism unsaid: An integral part of designing a house around solar power is energy efficiency. While the sun radiates a great deal of energy, harnessing it has proven to be very difficult. Each of the student teams’ designs, though, demonstrates the plausibility of creating a marketable, effective product. As evidence of the feasibility of these designs, the University house would cost between $120,000 and $150,000 were it produced.

Competitions like the Solar Decathlon are not merely fun diversions for enginerds or envirohippies; they present real design challenges and make students explore commercial solutions for significant issues like energy efficiency.

With temperatures in the 90s in October, global warming is a fact. That pollution aggravates the greenhouse effect is a fact. That increasing our use of renewable energy, conserving energy and limiting material waste can mitigate the human causes of global warming is also a fact.

Not only do such competitions lead to creative designs, they promote ideas that companies could quickly implement. For example, Illinois’ effective heating and cooling system pumps refrigerant through coils in the ceiling. When the system pumps fluid in one direction, it acts as an air conditioner in the floor, employing radiant cooling to absorb heat from the room through the ceiling. When the system runs in the opposite direction, it acts as a heat pump and provides radiant heating.

Architects could easily incorporate the system into new houses that are not solar houses. Similarly, the computer-controlled, automatically dimming lighting system has no inherent ties to solar energy. Both, however, reduce energy consumption and increase efficiency. Both work against the coal stacks and oil freighters.

Another longtime criticism of environmentalism is that it greatly increases the cost to consumers and inhibits industrial growth. The Solar Decathlon proves both counts incorrect. While the University’s design is not cheap, $150,000 for an energy-efficient house is a reasonable price.

Making the design even more appealing is that its conservation-minded design reduces costs over time. Lower electricity and water bills, positive consequences of an efficient design, partly offset the price premium of a solar house.

The 20 teams similarly prove that environmentalism does not necessarily limit economic growth. On the contrary, the need for innovation and creative thinking makes American companies’ creativity an asset that compensates for other countries’ cheap labor. While the most impressive aspect of the Solar Decathlon is intelligent and capable students constructing the projects, imagine what a fully financed, professional company could design, develop and manufacture.

In promoting alternative solutions to important social and environmental problems, competitions like the Solar Decathlon help lead the world into the future. Of course, directing the way and devising the necessary innovations will be smart and dedicated students like those on the University team.

For more information on the Solar Decathlon, go to www.bpsolardecathlon.com.