The 2015 Race to Zero Student Design Competition had 33 teams from 27 U.S. and Canadian universities competing to design cost-effective, zero energy homes for mainstream builders. View a full list of teams.

As a DOE Building America team, we are always looking for the most promising and creative minds to help us transform the industry. We just hired another Race to Zero graduate. It’s by far the best employment service we’ve found.

Emanuel Levy
ARIES Building America team lead

In its second year, the Race to Zero encouraged students to work with builders, developers, community leaders, and other industry partners to meet stringent design requirements and create marketable, affordable concepts. Below are the winners of the annual event, which took place on April 18-20, 2015, at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo. View the winning team project summaries or read the submissions from the Grand Winner and Grand Winner Finalists. You can also find team presentations by award below.

2015 Winning Teams

Grand Winner

Opti-MN Impact House – Opti-MN

University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN

See team presentation.

Grand Winner Finalists

Mountain Laurel Home – Team App

Appalachian State University, Boone, NC

The Three Rivers House – Three Rivers Design

Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA

The Scott Home – Penn College Williamsport

Pennsylvania College of Technology Williamsport, Williamsport, PA

The Suncatcher Cottage – Team Illinois

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL

See team presentations.

Analysis Excellence

HouZe GT – The Zeroes

Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA

The Corner House – [DAS]Haus

Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The Serrano House – Negawatt Team

University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA

The TownHauZ – Invent the Future

Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA

 

See the team presentations.

Design Excellence

H4: Heritage Homes – Heritage Homes

Penn State University, State College, PA

Independence Heights Net Zero Ready Home – Prairie View A&M

Prairie View A&M University, Prairie View, TX

Provenance Lane – Provenance Lane

Ryerson University Dept. of Architectural Science, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaØ-Zone Residence - Ø-Zone

Ryerson University Dept. of Architectural Science, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Desert Sunrise Home – Desert Sunrise

University of Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV

 

See the team presentations.

Systems Integration Excellence

Habitat for Humanity Net Zero Energy Home – Redbird Red Team

Illinois State University, Normal, IL

H4: Heritage Homes – Heritage Homes

Penn State University, State College, PA

Ø-Zone Residence - Ø-Zone

Ryerson University Dept. of Architectural Science, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The TownHauZ – Invent the FutureVirginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA

 

See team presentations.