28 MAY , Delhi: 12 teams won awards in different categories in the 3rd edition of the challenge, which saw participation from 1780 students and 126 academic institutionsStudent teams presented net-zero solutions for 36 real building projects on the final day of presentationA total of 12 teams won the Solar Decathlon India (SDI) Design Challenge for Net-Zero Future Proof Building in the different categories at the 3rd edition of the challenge conducted at Infosys’ campus in Mysuru. Six teams that topped their divisions pitched their solutions to a Grand Jury consisting of real estate and media stalwarts, and Team V⁰ from Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur, won the coveted Grand Prize for the most promising and investment-worthy design.The 36 finalist real building projects were exhibited at the finals to a crowd of over 650 people. On May 28, Solar Decathlon India held an internship fair where leading organisations working on climate change and net-zero buildings scout the best and brightest minds.Speaking during the announcement of the awards, Prasad Vaidya, Director Solar Decathlon India, said, “Some of these student teams have developed net-zero building designs that are at par with the work of best professional design teams in India. Within 9 months, these students could scale a very steep learning curve. If students can do this so well, it is time that building owners and developers start demanding this quality of work on every building project they invest in.”“The Solar Decathlon India is an innovative platform that encourages and instills a healthy competitive spirit in youngsters by challenging them to think outside the box and use their ingenuity to design a net-zero niche. It was encouraging to see how inventive and imaginative solutions to global climate change challenges were presented at the finals,” Chaitali Bhattacharya, Interim Director, IUSSTF, pointed out at the annual challenge for undergraduate and postgraduate students to develop innovative, net-zero energy-water and climate-resilient solutions for the building sector in India.The Solar Decathlon India is conducted every year by the Indian Institute for Human Settlements (IIHS) and the Alliance for an Energy-Efficient Economy (AEEE) under the aegis of the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF), an autonomous bilateral organisation jointly funded by both the Governments (The Department of Science & Technology, Government of India and the U.S. Department of State are the respective nodal departments on the two sides).This year the challenge ran for nine months, and the winners were announced in the presence of innovator and social entrepreneur Anish Malpani, who also delivered the keynote address.
