An Engineering Council Affiliated Society Spotlight
Illinois Solar Decathlon
“Engineering a Sustainable Future”
What is Illinois Solar Decathlon (ISD)?
Illinois Solar Decathlon is a multidisciplinary RSO at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign that competes in the International Department of Energy-sponsored Solar Decathlon Build and Design competitions. These Build and Design competitions challenge teams from universities around the world to design and build full-size, solar-powered homes with support from professional sponsors.
With approximately 130-140 members, Illinois Solar Decathlon represents a diverse array of graduate and undergraduate students, ranging from Civil, Electrical, and Mechanical engineers to those in Global Studies and Graphic Design. As Julie Wang, the ISD Communication Director encourages, “ISD is open to all majors.”
How is Illinois Solar Decathlon Structured?
Illinois Solar Decathlon is split into an Executive Board and three teams: the Concept Team, the Design Competition Team, and the Build Competition Team.
What does the Concept Team do throughout the school year?
ISD’s Concept Team, composed primarily of freshmen and sophomores, is designed to help introduce new students to researching sustainable building technologies/systems, as well as learning how to use Revit to prepare for future years in ISD.
Each year, the Concept Team is given a prompt for the RSO. This year, they’re collaborating with the Village of Rantoul to help conceptually design a new Town Hall.
What does the Design Competition Team do throughout the school year?
The Design Competition Team works over a one-year cycle, competing in the Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon Design competition. With deliverables nearly every month, the team works at a brisk pace leading up to their competition presentation in April at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado.
The entire team is led by an appointed project manager who is typically a graduate student (though this is not a strict requirement). Networking avenues such as faculty mentors, Quad Day, and E-Night help to pave connections between graduate students and ISD.
The team is broken down further into sub-teams, with a Lead for each sub-team as well. For the 2024 Design Competition Team, the sub-teams are: Architecture & Structural, Environmental & Social Sustainability, Electrical & Energy, Mechanical & Plumbing, and Market & Cost Analysis. While some sub-teams, such as Architecture & Structural are core to every design challenge, others are created to meet special requirements within a given challenge.
For 2024, the Design Competition Team is working on the design for an integrative sustainable design center in Chicago, envisioned to foster collaboration between UIC and the neighboring Chicago public schools. They aim to “support the Chicago Public School system with spaces that encourage creativity, collaboration, and success, all while maintaining a net-zero carbon footprint.”
What does the Build Competition Team do throughout the school year?
The Build Competition Team works over a two-year cycle, with the first year focusing on the project design and the second year focusing on the physical build (if selected to move forward). Similarly to the Design Competition Team, the Build Competition Team also presents at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado. Each cycle, following the design year, ten presenting teams are selected to move forward to move into the build stage and are provided $50,000 from the Department of Energy to begin.
The 2022-2023 Build Team is wrapping up the final construction of their most recent project, the RENU Home, which aims to serve as an economical example for the development of affordable net-zero housing in suburban/rural areas. While the RSO contracts the actual construction of the house, the RSO is responsible for every part of the design and materials procurement process.
Since the RSO’s formation in 2007, Illinois Solar Decathlon has built 5 houses, including the Gable Home (2009), Rehome (2011), the ADAPTHAUS (2020), and the RENU House (2023).
ABE 498 (ISD Project)
Illinois Solar Decathlon also runs a section of ABE498, a project course which gives students the opportunity to work on their ISD duties while still earning credit hours for their time.
Social Events
ISD also hosts a variety of social events throughout the year, including a BBQ night, Halloween Social, and Christmas Social.
For the community, the RSO also hosts open houses of their newly constructed houses before they are donated.
Looking to get Involved?
At the beginning of each semester, there is a two-week application period. You can also email the ISD Vice President (uiucsolardecathlon@gmail.com) for all other inquiries.
To follow ISD’s projects, check out their website (illinoissolardecathlon.com), Instagram (@illinoissolardecathlon), or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/illinois-solar-decathlon/).
2023 Design Team Meeting (one week out from presentation)
2023 Design Competition Presentation at NREL Colorado
2024 ELEVATE-Chicago Renders
2023 RENU House
2023 Executive Board
President: Rachel Chen
Vice President: Karina Jang
Treasurer: Etienne Sirois
Sponsorship Director: Mackenzie Kraft
Sponsorship Deputy: Lizet Alvarez
Marketing Director: Eshana Jain
Communications Director: Julie Wang*
Creative Director: Dylan Fu
Social Chair: Gabriel Villanueva
Faculty Advisors
Lead Faculty Advisor: Prof. Andrew Stillwell
Architecture: Prof. Mark Taylor
HVAC: Prof. Yuanhui Zhang
PV&E: Prof. Andrew Stillwell
Water: Prof. Ashlynn Stillwell
Landscape: Prof. Kelley Lemon
Other: Prof. Lei Zhao, Bob Devine, and Morgan White
Did you know… Illinois Solar Decathlon is a Registered Non-Profit!
This is part of the reason why Illinois Solar Decathlon is able to donate their houses to Habitat for Humanity!
*A Special Thank You to Julie Wang for speaking with the Engineering Council Publicity Committee about ISD and its initiatives!