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Green Growth, Green Life — Solar Decathlon China 2018 Held in Dezhou

DEZHOU, China, Aug. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- What would your dream house look like? Like science fiction, green energy, technological connectivity......such futuristic houses recently appeared at Solar Decathlon China 2018 (SDC2018), which was held in Dezhou, Shandong Province, China during the period August 3-17.

Solar Decathlon (SD) is an international collegiate competition that challenges student teams to design and build full-size, solar-powered houses. With technologies and innovations from world-leading R&D and design teams, SD aims to integrate solar energy, energy conservation and architecture design in a new way so as to design and build comfortable, livable, sustainable and fully functional solar houses.

The SDC2018 Competition was staged by Dezhou Municipal Government, with the concept of 'Green Growth, Green Life'. 19 teams consisting of 34 schools from 8 countries and regions were required to build a 120-200m2 one- or two-storey solar house that can be put to permanent use. Each house was to be equipped with all essential household appliances such as TV, refrigerator, washing machine, and computer that could be fully powered by solar energy equipment.

The students' designs provided valuable references to the rural revitalization strategy and they delivered solutions for pressing social issues such as future urban development and the aging effect.

Team SEU-TUBS (Southeast University / Technical University of Braunschweig) mixed crop stalks into the bricks used for their house (crop stalk content of 65%), which was harder yet lighter than ordinary house bricks; Team THU (Tsinghua University) incorporated a water collection and self-cleaning system, to efficiently convert rainwater into potable water; the (S)LOW House designed by Team B&R (The University of Hong Kong / Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture) aimed to bring people back to nature and a simple life; Generations designed by Team XJTU-WNEU-POLIMI (Xi'an Jiaotong University / Western New England University / Politecnico di Milano) focused on designing a villa community for the elderly and a smart home.

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