Greentech Media

In 2005, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid was the first European team to compete in the Solar Decathlon and, in 2010, Spain will be home to the first European Solar Decathlon.

Entering into the third Solar Decathlon, Mario Toledano, a student in the Center for Integral Domotics (home automation), said the team has learned "how to plan ahead for weather and how to manage the competitions [better]." He seemed to be happy with their performance this time around.

The team used solar panels by Isofoton, a Spanish solar company. Toledano said the 54 panels were performing quite well. And, of course, competing during an incredibly sunny week didn't hurt anyone either. The battery system was comprised of 24 batteries that have a 90 kW storage capacity.

It had a domotic walkway, which monitored the energy systems in search of an optimal balance between generation and consumption.

An interesting innovation the Madrid team used was an adsorption machine. This system produced cold air to help cool the house and was run from the solar-thermal system. This system also was optimized because, as well as putting collectors on the roof, collectors were incorporated into the south facade of the house. In this way, energy could be harnessed at a variety of times during the day. Because of the location on the facade, the collectors were physically closer to the tanks and had less heat loss in the transfer between the two.

Two water tanks in the mechanical area provided domestic hot water and temperature control. Most teams that use the dual-tank system have equally sized tanks around 60 gallons each. This team, however, used a 20-gallon instant hot-water heater for domestic hot water and a 50-gallon tank that would be used for heating and cooling purposes.

The exterior green wall not only provided an aesthetic appeal, it helped insulate the structure.