Editor's note: this article was originally posted on the Solar Decathlon's website.

Want to create buildings that help address the most pressing needs of our time? Love the thrill of competing with top students across the country and around the world? If so, the U.S Department of Energy Solar Decathlon® is for you!

Collegiate institutions can start planning now for the Solar Decathlon 2021 Design Challenge and 2022 Build Challenge.

The 2021 Design Challenge will add a new contest focused on the lifecycle impacts of buildings. Teams are encouraged to reduce waste, pollution, and embodied carbon in their designs. In addition, teams should consider how buildings can be reused or repurposed at end-of-life. Partnerships with building owners are also encouraged to develop zero-energy designs for real building projects across the country and around the world.

The 2022 Build Challenge will be a local-build format, with participating teams constructing, operating, and exhibiting their homes in their own communities.

Details about the Design Challenge and the Build Challenge will be available on the Solar Decathlon website soon.

The Solar Decathlon is a collegiate competition that challenges student teams to design and build highly efficient and innovative buildings powered by renewable energy. The winners will be those teams that best blend architectural and engineering excellence with creativity, market potential, building efficiency, and smart energy production. The competition continues to “push the envelope” on the design of the most high-performance, efficient, affordable, and innovative buildings while leveraging opportunities to showcase student innovation and STEM education, as well as to foster workforce development opportunities.

Learn more about the Solar Decathlon competition.