UJI, along with the VIA University College of Denmark, forms the “VIA-UJI équipe", presented its proposal in December to participate in the prestigious international university competition Solar Decathlon Europe (SDE) whose next edition will be held in Versailles, France. For this edition, 44 candidates from all over the world were presented, of which the French Organising Committee selected the 20 competing teams and the seven complementary teams, among which the VIA-UJI team is found as the second complementary team. The "VIA-UJI équipe" has been invited by the French Committee to continue in the competition during 2013, and it will also receive a first phase of cofinancing funds, just as the 20 selected teams will.
Solar Decathlon Europe is a highly demanding competition which involves much hard work for two years, so it is not surprising that some teams drop out of the competition before being reaching the final stage. Experience from past editions indicates that it is quite possible that the VIA-UJI team’s proposal will manage to finally feature among the 20 competing teams in this important final in Versailles; indeed in SDE 2012, four teams dropped out.
The competition intends to promote R&D of efficient homes where university students from all over the world design and build a house which is run exclusively by solar power. The final 2014 competition stage contemplates building homes in the Versailles Palace gardens, where the prototypes will be submitted to ten tests to determine which home will be the winne
