The Stevens Institute of Technology, a private university based in Hoboken, New Jersey, won the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s 2015 Solar Decathlon Saturday—taking an unprecedented first place in seven of the 10 competition categories.

A team from the Vienna Institute of Technology, competing in the U.S. for the first time, took home top honors in the Department of Energy’s sixth Solar Decathlon.

Perhaps it is fitting that two teams from the Asia-Pacific reigned in the first Solar Decathlon ever held in Asia.

The Solar Decathlon, a popular competition and expo organized by the Department of Energy (DOE) that invites teams to build houses powered by the sun, opened to the public today in Washington, D.C

Organized by the Department of Energy (DOE), the Solar Decathlon is a competition held every two years that invites university teams to design solar-powered homes, which they then construct on the Mall as part of a public expo.

Taking advantage of being in spain, i traveled to Toledo, Spain, former capital of the country

The bright sun warmed us as we walked among the 17 houses of the Solar Decathlon for our final day of review

The juries met with student teams from Germany, the U.S., Spain, France and China, examining their unique approaches to houses using only renewable energy sources

Sunny skies and good company trump jet lag and no sleep