The Solar Decathlon takes place every other year on the National
Mall in Washington, D.C. This competition enlists about 20 teams
of college and university students to design, build, and operate
the most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-
powered houses. Each house is instrumented with sensors to
evaluate how well the students meet the challenge. Campbell
Scientific dataloggers were chosen for a key role in the
evaluation phase. Over the previous two years before the event,
each team of college students designs a solar house, knowing
from the outset that it must be powered entirely by the sun. The
competition demands that their designs maintain the house within
a certain temperature range, provide lighting, run appliances,
charge an electric car, and much more. They then build their
solar houses, learning as they go. The 20 teams transport their
buildings to Washington and assemble them on the National Mall.
The judging then begins, with Campbell sensors and dataloggers
measuring factors such a