Oct 26 2007
The Technische Universitat Darmstadt, Germany, sponsored by Bosch, won the United States Department of Energy's third Solar Decathlon held in Washington D.C. from October 12-19, 2007. The annual competition brought together 20 college and university teams from across the United States, Canada, Germany, Spain and Puerto Rico in a competition to design, build and operate the most attractive, effective and energy-efficient solar-powered house.
The Technische Universitat Darmstadt team presented the German way of building, showcasing German technologies and materials, including German oak, in their solar house. The team collaborated with German companies and manufacturers, including Bosch, which provided three-month internships for two of the Darmstadt students. The internships provided an opportunity for students to test how well the systems could provide hot water and climate control for the house.
"The internship was very interesting because we had experts from Bosch right next to us, and whenever we had specific questions, we received the answers we needed very quickly," said Toby Kern, an architecture student who was part of the winning team.
Lou Vorsteveld, president, Bosch Thermotechnology in the U.S. said, "Congratulations to Technische Universitat Darmstadt for winning this prestigious honor from the U.S. Department of Energy. We at Bosch are committed to developing innovative, renewable energy technologies that save energy, reduce CO2 emissions and contribute to energy independence, and are very encouraged to see students demonstrate so innovatively and effectively how our solar technology solutions can easily be applied in the real world."
The house will return to Germany to be used as a solar power plant, as part of the university's project to develop a Solar Campus ("Solare Lichtwiese"), through which all buildings on campus will be equipped with building-integrated photovoltaics, feeding electricity into the German power grid.
Bosch Thermotechnology is a lead sponsor of the team from the Darmstadt Technical University in Germany. The Darmstadt team utilizes Buderus solar thermal flat plate collectors to supply the house with domestic hot water from the sun. The win follows Bosch's announcement that its Bosch Thermotechnology division will create Bosch and Buderus branded solar thermal water heating systems and components for both residential and commercial customers in the U.S. The final product certification for these solar thermal water heating systems is nearing completion and products will be offered by Bosch Thermotechnology Corporation at the beginning of 2008.
Bosch and Buderus solar thermal heating systems use state of the art technology to effectively capture the sun's energy to heat and store hot water for residential and commercial applications. The Bosch solar flat plate collectors utilize innovative absorber plate designs and collector construction to maximize energy efficiency even on cloudy days. Bosch solar collectors can be seamlessly integrated with Bosch high efficiency solar water storage tanks, pump stations and controllers providing contractors with an intelligent, easy-to-install solar hot water heating solution.