Bhattacharya was encouraged by inventive-imaginative solutions to global climate change challenges
Twelve teams were declared winners of the 3rd edition of Solar Decathlon India Design Challenge for Net-Zero Future Proof Building 2022-2023 for 36 real building projects on the final day of presentation 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.
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, the Ministry of Science & Technology said on 28 May 2023.
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.
It said 1,780 students and 126 academic institutions participated in the Decathlon.
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,” Chaitali Bhattacharya, Interim Director, IUSSTF, pointed out.
“It was encouraging to see how inventive and imaginative solutions to global climate change challenges were presented at the finals,” Bhattacharya said that 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.
The 2023-24 challenge saw over 30 organisations offer opportunities for the challenge participants.
The Council of Architecture (CoA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding as a knowledge partner with AEEE, who co-organises SDI, to expand outreach and the impact of Solar Decathlon India aimed at building the next generation of leaders to combat climate change in India. This is expected to facilitate architectural educational institutions and students to participate in the competition. Fiinews.com
