Researching the impact of the Solar Decathlon on students: a survey analysis

Authors

  • Richard Amaral Departamento de Construcción y Tecnologías Arquitectónicas de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.
  • Beatriz Arranz Departamento de Construcción y Tecnologías Arquitectónicas de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6675-0248
  • Sergio Vega Departamento de Construcción y Tecnologías Arquitectónicas de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5821/jida.2023.12303

Keywords:

survey, competition, education, students, sustainability

Abstract

The Solar Decathlon competition has been part of the lives of a generation of architects and engineers by spreading the concept of efficient solar-powered houses, promoting a more sustainable and efficient world. More than twenty years after its first edition, the opinions of participating students and academics on the educational impact of the competition on their lives and whether it has fulfilled its objectives are unknown. To find these answers, a worldwide survey of participants in the editions held up to 2020 has been carried out and the results obtained through this methodology have made it possible to analyse these questions, pointing out the positive and negative points in order to suggest improvements for future events.

Author Biographies

Richard Amaral, Departamento de Construcción y Tecnologías Arquitectónicas de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.

Msc Arquitecto y Urbanista, trabajo hace más de 5 años para el sector inmobiliario residencial en Madrid y soy doctorando en la Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura (UPM) - Programa DOCT 99.
En mi etapa de estudiante universitario destaqué positivamente en algunas asignaturas, hecho por el cual fui invitado a actuar como monitor, ayudando a los nuevos alumnos, guiándolos en sus trabajos y evaluándolos. Fruto de eso, fui agraciado con una beca del Gobierno de Brasil para estudiar un año en la Universidad de Sevilla. Máster Universitario de Construcción y Tecnologías Arquitectónicas por la UPM y participación en dos proyectos internacionales: “IEA EBC Annex 74. Competition and Living Lab Platform” (2019/20) y “Solar Decathlon Europe. Analysis of the results” Europpean Comission (2018/20).

Beatriz Arranz, Departamento de Construcción y Tecnologías Arquitectónicas de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.

Beatriz Arranz, PhD is an architect specialized in Indoor Environmental Quality and sustainability in buildings, she is a researcher and lecturer at the School of Architecture (UPM). Her research has focused on designing, building and testing industrialized sustainable buildings and building component prototypes. To perform this experimental comparative research, she has designed and built houses and Test Cell facilities. The objective of these facilities is to perform comprehensive monitoring, evaluating the energy efficiency and IEQ. Outstanding projects are “MonitorCit_Mad (2021-2024)”, “IEA EBC Annex 74. Competition and Living Lab Platform” (2019/20); “Solar Decathlon Europe. Analysis of the results” EC (2018/20); “Energy retrofitting of social housing, using innovative window (2015/18); “Systemic solutions for building Energy Retrofitting” (2011/2015), “Building Acoustic for living” (2009/2011), “Industrializing Sustainable Housing” (2007/2009); “Solar Decathlon Europe Competition 2010 and 2012” as a member of the Organization and “Casa Solar. Solar Decathlon Competition 2007”(student member of the UPM Team).

Sergio Vega, Departamento de Construcción y Tecnologías Arquitectónicas de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.

PhD ARchitect, Msc, PMP, Professor and researcher at School of Achitecture in Universidad Politecnica de Madrid (UPM). More than 33 years of profesional experience as Architect. Main Researcher of several National and International Research projects. Current and previous research interests: Technical Risk Management, Construction Management, Sustainable Buildings and cities, Energy, Sustainable Facility Management, Efficiency Energy Building retrofitting. International Facility Management Association (IFMA-Chapter Spain), EUROFM member (into Research Network). Some national and international wards. The most relevant EU Sustainable Energy Award in Communication: Sustainable Energy Week 2011.

References

Annex 74. 2022. Competition and Living Lab Platform. Subtask B: Solar Decathlon Competitions. Impacts and Performance. IEA. EBC.

Camino-Olea, M. S., Jové-Sandoval, J. M., Alonso-García, E., & Llorente-Álvarez, A. 2018. «Taller de concursos para estudiantes de arquitectura.» En VI Jornadas sobre Innovación Docente en Arquitectura. Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. https://doi.org/10.5821/jida.2018.5489.

Eastment, M. Et al. 2004. Solar Decathlon 2002: The Event Review. U.S. Department of Energy. Washington D.C.

Kenett, R.; Salini, S. 2011. «Modern Analysis of Customer Satisfaction Surveys: comparison of models and integrated analysis.» Applied Stochastic Models in Business and Industry Volume 27: 465-475.

Marriage, G. 2017. «Solar Decathlon. Interdisciplinary and collaborative research competing on a world stage.» J. Public Space, Volume 2: 31-40.

Moldovan, O.; Bocos-Bintintan, V. 2015. «The Necessity of Reconsidering the Concept of Non-Formal Education.» Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences. Volume 209: 337-343.

Pfleeger, S.L.; Kitchenham, B.A. 2001. «Principles of survey research: Part 1: Turning lemons into lemonade.» ACM SIGSOFT, Volume 26:16-18.

Vega, S.; Arranz, B. 2011. Solar Decathlon Europe 2010. Towards Energy Efficient Buildings. 10ACTION Project. España.

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Published

2023-11-09

Issue

JIDA'23

Section

PAPERS