For the last five years, the Department of Energy at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has organized the “Race to Zero” Student Design Competition in Golden, Colorado. The event challenges college students and faculty from around the world through a design competition for zero energy-ready structures - both single-family and multifamily homes, as well as school buildings. This year’s event brought together 84 student teams from 68 collegiate institutions from nine different countries.
EEBA has officially kicked off their student scholarship fundraising efforts by offering free attendance for two students per team to the 2018 High Performance Home Summit in San Diego. Each scholarship of $1,500 provides one student with full Summit registration and meals, double-occupancy for three hotel nights, tickets for a networking event and a dinner cruise, and $500 for transportation.
The scholarship fund is the first initiative enabling interested students to attend and participate in regional trainings and future High Performance Summits. “Bring a Student to EEBA” is currently being financed by six of our generous industry firms: Thrive Home Builders, DuPont Tyvek, EnergyLogic, Mandalay Homes, Revive Properties, and TopBuild/Environments for Living. The goal is to raise $25,000. EEBA is accepting donations in any amount to help further fund these scholarships into 2019 and beyond.
Six schools have already committed 11 students to attend this year’s High Performance Home Summit, and more are anticipated. The “Race to Zero” students will be presenting short overviews of their winning projects during the “Pecha Kucha” Session at the Summit.
“With the huge labor shortages currently facing all builders, we want to provide Summit attendees with an opportunity to meet these talented students in San Diego,” says EEBA President Gene Myers. Myers has recruited several “Race to Zero” winners as interns at his homebuilding company in Denver.
In the future, the U.S. Department of Energy will be joining its two student building design competitions, Solar Decathlon and Race to Zero, into one national Solar Decathlon competition. Solar Decathlon 2019–2020 will offer two tracks that build on the strengths of previous DOE student competitions: (1) an annual “Design Challenge” (formerly known as the Race to Zero Student Design Competition), and (2) a “Build Challenge” that expands on the original Solar Decathlon.
If you’re interested in donating to the “Bring a Student to EEBA” scholarship fund, please contact nancy@eeba.org or CLICK HERE to donate now.
Visit our registration page to sign up for the High Performance Home Summit in San Diego.