Copy The United States Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm announced the winners of the 2021 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Decathlon, a competition that challenges architecture and engineering college students from around the world to design and construct high-performance buildings powered by renewable energy. 72 competing teams hailed from 12 countries and designed energy-efficient residential and commercial spaces, nine of which were constructed and presented in the Solar Decathlon Virtual Village on the National Mall, a first of its kind, in Washington, D.C. The Solar Decathlon aims to promote student innovation, STEM education, and workforce development opportunities in the architecture and construction industry. The competition has been ongoing since 2002, and since then, more than 20,000 students have shared their innovative concepts. The Decathlon is divided into two separate challenges: The Design Challenge is a one-to-two-semester, design-only competition, while the Build Challenge is a two-year design-and-build competition.