There are many ideas for sustainable urban development, and ideas need to be followed by action. This is the reason behind the principle of the SDE: ‘Design – Build – Operate’. Universities from allover the world meet to design, build and operate solar houses with equalized or even positive energybalance.

With the Solar Decathlon Europe 21/22 (SDE 21/22), the university competition came to Germany for the first time. 18 teams from eleven countries qualified for the urban decathlon for sustainable building and living taking place in Wuppertal. They will not only develop innovative housing ideas, but will actually realise theirdesigns, which will be fully-functional one- or two-storey residential houses.

Against the backdrop of climate change, the aim of the competition is to promote energy transitionin urban settings. Funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK), we are working towards achieving a nearly climate-neutral building stock by 2050.