Help put the US Department of Energy's 2011 Solar Decathlon back on the National Mall

February 2011

The National Parks Service has decided that the Solar Decathlon cannot take place on the Mall this October. They are kicking it off, and leaving the competition to find another spot. This is quite unfair to the student groups as they are 8 months away from their installations and have based all of their work on this location. Many are obtaining funding based on the prominent location.

This petition is available for signing to show support.

Architecture Professors and Students Protest Moving Solar Decathlon Off the National Mall

February 15, 2011 - From the Chronicle of Higher Education - By Scott Carlson

For architecture and engineering students, the Solar Decathlon is like the Super Bowl of college-design projects. Every two years since 2002, teams from dozens of institutions from around the world have brought their small, superefficient houses to the big lawn on the National Mall. There, policy makers, Beltway journalists, and tourist families from the hinterlands could come and imagine a different future for the American dream home.

But not so this year, it seems. The U.S. Department of Energy, in consultation with the National Park Service, has decided to move the Solar Decathlon off the mall to an unspecified location because of concerns about the impact on the mall lawn and grounds—a decision that has riled students and faculty members who have been involved in the contest. More...