French Team Wins the 2012 Solar Decathlon Europe

At the 2012 Solar Decathlon Europe competition that just concluded in Madrid, the CANOPEA house by French team Rhône Alpes has been awarded the first prize. Very close in the ranking, in second place, was the Spanish Andalucía Team with their prototype, PATIO 2.12. The third prize went to the Italian team Med in Italy.

Solar News/ September - 29th from SD Europe on Vimeo.

This is the overall ranking of SDE 2012:

1. Rhône Alpes (France)
2. Andalucía Team (Andalucía, Spain)
3. Med in Italy (Italy)
4. Ecolar (Germany)
5. Counter Entropy Team (Germany)
6. Odooproject (Hungary)
7. Ceu Team Valencia (Valencia, Spain)
8. (e)co Team (Cataluña, Spain)
9. Prispa (Romania)
10. Team DTU (Denmark)
11. Tongji Team (China)
12. EHU Team (Pais Vasco, Spain)
13. Aquitaine Bordeaux Campus (France)
14. Team Brasil (Brazil)
15. Chiba Univertity (Japan)
16. Cem+Cem- (Portugal)
17. Astonyshine (France-Italy)
18. Grupo Pi Unizar (Zaragoza, Spain)

The concept of CANOPEA house evolves around the idea of a 'Nanotower': small towers housing an individual unit on each floor. Each top floor hosts a common laundry area, a summer kitchen, and a relaxing place for the entire community providing space for gardens and storage.

During the closing ceremony, the Public Choice Award was given to Andalucía Team's Patio 2.12, as the most popular house of the Villa Solar visitors. The EHU Team (Pais Vasco, Spain) received the most online votes.

Here some more impressions from the 2012 Solar Decathlon Europe in Madrid. More photos on Flickr.

All images courtesy of 2012 Solar Decathlon Europe.