After a stressful day (beginning in 6th place) and rising in the ranks and making a tenuous third place only hours before the final awards ceremony, we had only to await the announcement of 150 subjective Engineering jury points before the tabulation of final placings. A noisy procession, with SCU at its head, moved down Decathlete way from the Capitol Building to the Washington Monument around 2 pm to begin the awards ceremony. As we passed, we cheered on each other team as they gathered on their decks to pile into the growing parade. Puerto Rico’s drums and some makeshift water jugs added to the festivities. As we reached the main tent, each team was announced and entered the stage area loud cheers and flashing cameras. As thousands of participants and observers attempted to squeeze into a much to small tent for the ceremony, the heat rose to a solid 100 degrees with almost identical humidity.

After a host of speeches and rising nerves, Engineering jury points were awarded. Darmstadt, University of Texas at Austin, and University of Coloardo won fist, second, and third place respectively. As Darmstadt’s name was announced, the tent erupted in cheers - the entire team screaming, jumping and hugging one another. There was no way another team could displace them from first after a first place finish in Engineering. This left our position up in the air - depending on the other engineering scores, we could get as high as second, or be bumped from our third place spot to a position much lower than we wanted to think about.

Only minutes later, the Secretary of the Department of Energy took the podium to announce the winner. All he had to say was the first line of his speech, “this team set out to build an elegant house” - words straight from our mission statement - before the whole team erupted. He praised the teams communications and hot water performance and called up to the stage as the third place winner, the “true Cinderella story from California: Santa Clara University.” Amidst screams of joy, frantic jumping, hugging and tripping over one another, the team made its way to the third place podium. James took the microphone to thank everyone and said “The most important thing in a competition is not to win, but to succeed; and today, 20 teams have succeeded.” This comment has been quoted by the competition organizers on the official Solar Decathlon website as best summarizing what the Solar Decathlon is at its very best.

The University of Maryland took second while the Technical University of Darmstadt took an ecstatic first place. The day concluded with a few hours of photographs, group hugs caught on camera, and last minute visits between teams to one anothers houses for final goodbyes and best wishes to good competitors and now good friends. The SCU team gathered later in the evening to share laughter, happines, and barbecue cooked by the Dean of the School of Engineering, Godfrey Mungal. Hours of champagne toasts later, every possible team member, supporter, and competitor near and afar had been praised, thanked, and celebrated fully.

One of the most critical categories for our project was also judged yesterday afternoon between our open tours. The engineering team had, through hours of discussion and practice, rehearsed a presentation that promised to impress our judges. The judgment itself appeared to go rather well – this claim based on the fact that many of the observers were congratulating the team for work well-done after the tour. A particular point of interest was our residential absorption chiller, but the structural bamboo I-beams were certainly not overlooked by any measure. The true results, unfortunately, will only be available on Friday and we all wait to see with a new level of anticipation. In a big way, this category will determine much of our success from here out.

On a considerably lighter note, Congressman Honda and his staff offered to provide us with a tour of the Capitol building. After tedious and extensive deliberation on the matter, we promptly arranged a meeting time for the afternoon a mere 15 minutes after our last tour was completed. And of course, it was amazing. We were able to visit the original chambers of the Supreme Court, several art galleries of famous statues, and our interior design coordinator had several questions about the price of rugs. One room in particular was able draw the attention of our entire engineering team. The acoustic design of the room allowed for our tour guide to walk across the room and whisper “Santa Clara rocks!” in a low voice, and at the focal point we were able to clearly hear him as if he were standing behind us. At the end of the presentation, a chance meeting even allowed the Congressman to entertain us with anecdotes about childhood and pork-barrel politics before he left for a late meeting. It should also be noted that the tram that carried us back through tunnels to the House Office Building was very reminiscent of the game Half-Life. 

The results for the rest of the competition are on edge, all of them possible wins for our team that could push us close to the lead. Stay glued to our site for more updates as they come. It looks to be close, but we’re “crunchy” and ready for tomorrow.