Exterior architectural photograph of Maryland's entry in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011, Washington D.C., Sept. 30, 2011.
Photo Credit: Jim Tetro, U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon

Days after the University of Maryland’s entry, WaterShed, took first place at the Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011, accolades for the team continue to pour in from supporters, media, and government officials, including official statements before the United States Congress and Senate, and a note of congratulations from Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley.

By Monday morning, congressmen, state representatives and the governor all had expressed their pride in the team’s achievement. In a statement released by Governor Martin O’Malley’s office, O’Malley said “I’m more than proud that the Maryland WaterShed team’s vision and effort was recognized as a first-place accomplishment on the international stage. The team’s innovation and commitment to sustainability is a terrific representation of the state itself. Their work not only shines, but contributes to a better, stronger Maryland.”

Maryland Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-5) entered into the Congressional Record on Monday a statement congratulating the team, highlighting the cutting edge techniques that will drive the industry into a more sustainable future. “By blending innovation and technology with sustainability and conservation, these students demonstrated the creativity, teamwork, technical knowledge and determination that are essential as we work to revive our economy and regain our nation’s place as a leader in high tech and sustainable manufacturing”. (Read the full proclamation here).

U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (MD) also praised Team Maryland’s efforts Wednesday in a statement recorded in the Congressional record for the Senate. Cardin, who serves on the Environment and Public Works Committee, and who has made the Chesapeake Bay a priority during his terms as senator, stated “The University of Maryland’s work in publicizing and promoting sustainable housing options like WaterShed for the residents of the Chesapeake Bay region will go a long way toward preserving this treasured resource. I cannot think of a more appropriate effort for the University of Maryland to be engaged in, and I applaud everyone’s hard work during the past two years towards this common cause and successful outcome.(To read the full statement, click here).

While Maryland’s entry garnered substantial media attention during the competition, WaterShed continues to make headlines with its win, appearing this week on local network TV and major print media including the Associated Press Wire report, the New York Times, Baltimore Sun and the Washington Post. News of WaterShed’s achievement also appeared in several niche environmental and architectural websites such as Treehugger, Inhabitat and residential architect.

One of the biggest honors for the team, however,are the kudos received from over 20,000 people who came out to Potomac Park to get a glimpse of WaterShed, and the thousands of notes landing in e-mail boxes and on the team’s Facebook page throughout the week from strangers, supporters, mentors and friends.

Adds Amy Gardner, WaterShed’s Principal Investigator, “Steve Jobs once said, ‘I think if you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you should go do something else wonderful, not dwell on it for too long. Just figure out what’s next.’ The encouragement we have received from everyone who visited WaterShed will carry us forward to whatever that ‘next’ might be.”

University of Maryland celebrates after winning the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011
Credit: Stefano Paltera/U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon

WaterShed has taken first place at the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011. The announcement was delivered by US Energy Secretary Steven Chu Saturday afternoon in front of a packed tent of students, sponsors and supporters.

“There are lots of tears of joy and relief,” said Architecture Team Leader Leah Davies. “We are all so proud of the thought and hard work put into WaterShed, and really excited that our message was viewed in such a positive way.”

Consistently leading the pack throughout the competition, WaterShed finished with a 20 point lead over the second place winner, Purdue. New Zealand’s entry, First Light, came in third.

The student and faculty-built home, which blends solar energy efficiency and water conservation, was recognized by the jury for its beauty, its sustainability message through design and “impeccable” performance in measured contests.

“The innovation, creativity, skill, vision, cooperation, determination, and, yes, energy displayed by this team is both remarkable and a joy,” says University of Maryland President Wallace Loh. “I couldn’t be more proud of their work and accomplishment. These students, faculty and mentors have dedicated themselves to addressing critical needs of Maryland, the nation, and other countries. They’re the perfect example of what a public research university is all about.”

The Terps performed strongly throughout this year’s Decathlon, including a second place win in the final competition- market appeal- which was announced just before the overall winner today.

Late Friday evening the team received a perfect score of 100 in the energy balance competition – a measure of WaterShed’s energy efficiency – solidifying their lead going into the final day of scoring. In Friday’s Communication Competition, the Terps came in third behind Middlebury and Appalachian State. The jury noted Maryland’s “consistent messaging, strong educational exhibit components, and a compelling story.”

Earlier in the week, the Terps won the Architecture Competition. “WaterShed achieves an elegant mix of inspiration, function, and simplicity,” reported Architecture Juror Michelle Kaufman. “It takes our current greatest challenges in the built environment – energy and water – and transforms them into opportunities for spatial beauty and poetry while maintaining livability in every square inch.”

Panels of experts judge the competing entries on ten dimensions: their architectural qualities, market appeal, engineering, educational/communication effort, affordability, “comfort zone,” hot water systems, appliances, home entertainment and energy balance.

The international competition challenges 20 finalist collegiate teams to design, build, and operate solar-powered houses that are cost-effective, energy-efficient, and attractive. The Maryland team – the only finalist from the state and the Washington, D.C. area – is led by the University’s students, faculty and professional mentors.

“These students from diverse disciplines effectively formed a cohesive team to imagine, invent, and make real the project we call WaterShed,” says the project’s principal investigator Amy Gardner, an associate professor of architecture at the University Maryland. “Interdisciplinary problem solving is the way forward towards a more sustainable future.”

Inspired by the Chesapeake Bay, the power of  WaterShed’s design comes from its twin focus on efficient, renewable energy and water quality and conservation, Gardner adds. It harvests, recycles and reuses water, while harmonizing modernity, tradition, and simple building strategies. The house balances time-tested best practices and advanced technological solutions to achieve high efficiency performance in an affordable manner.

WaterShed integrates a unique array of sustainable features, including.

• Split-butterfly roof, well-suited to capture and use both sunlight and rainwater;
• Constructed wetlands that filter stormwater and greywater (household water with limited contaminants);
• Green roof to retain rainwater and promote efficient cooling;
• Photovoltaic array to harvest enough solar energy to power WaterShed year-round;
• Solar thermal array to fulfill all domestic hot water needs;
• “Edible landscapes” that support community-based agriculture;
• Patent-pending indoor, liquid desiccant waterfall for high-efficiency humidity control;
• Efficient, cost-effective, durable and time-tested structural system.

“Taken together, these design features make WaterShed less thirsty for fossil fuels than standard homes and less dependent on costly water purifying infrastructure,” explain team members Allison Wilson and Leah Davies. “The house acts as a micro-ecosystem that encourages residents to live a more sustainable lifestyle – not only by conserving but also by capturing and reusing natural resources.”

University of Maryland President Wallace Loh describes WaterShed as “a model for how to live in harmony with the complex ecosystem of the largest estuary in the United States.” The project, he adds, “fulfills the mission of a 21st century Land Grant University by applying intellectual resources to make “a real-life impact” – in this case, “contributing to sustainability.”

Maryland Congressman Roscoe Bartlett and Rep. Chris Van Hollen, both members of the House Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus, visited all 20 houses in the Solar Village on the opening day of the competition.

“The entries are more impressive every year in the Solar Decathlon, but with WaterShed the University of Maryland once again sets the bar high for all other competitors,” Bartlett said in a statement. “As an alum, that makes me so proud. Inspired by our own Chesapeake Bay, WaterShed is a stunningly beautiful, remarkably comfortable home with ingenious design, technology and engineering details that harness energy from the sun and water from rain in harmony with our environment. I am confident that it will be very difficult for any other house to match the combination of beauty and functionality of WaterShed by the University of Maryland on the ten elements of the Solar Decathlon 2011 competition.”

The Team Maryland involves students and faculty from the Maryland School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, the A. James Clark School of Engineering, the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences, the University Libraries, and the School of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Maryland businesses and professional groups are providing significant support as well.

Jay Chmilewski Working
Photo Credit: Amy Gardner

Jay Chmilewski has a great eye for detail. It’s a skill that in part attributes to his success in his civil engineering degree, and that sources his photography subjects, a hobby which gained him some local recognition at a gallery showing last year. This is a good thing, as Jay’s life for the past two years has been all about the details.

Jay, who will graduate from Maryland in June, is behind the absolutely massive job of designing and developing three key engineering systems for WaterShed: plumbing, solar thermal, and desiccant dehumidification. This involved careful design and research, modification and tinkering of existing technologies, and closely working with trade mentors for a flawless performance in time for competition. Throughout the building process Jay has encountered many challenges. According to his teammates, he has handled these with intelligence, patience, and focus. He is a tremendously dedicated member of the WaterShed team. Below Jay talks about why two – not one – crescent wrenches are a must-have on any job.

What has been your personal WaterShed moment so far?
JC: Seeing the data from the house sensors proving the things I designed (HXEST, solar thermal, desiccant) work as planned and visibly improve the house’s performance.

What has been your most important learning experience on the project?
JC: Watching a house develop from sketches on trace paper to a full-sized, livable house has been an incredibly educational experience. Witnessing the transition from 2D construction drawings to a 3D house alone taught me more than any class could have.

How has working on WaterShed influenced your career path?
JC: This project showed me all of the gaping efficiency flaws in most modern households and room for potential improvement. I think I still want to go into transportation engineering but this project has definitely begun to pull me more towards residential renewable technologies and innovative mechanical systems instead. I guess the future will tell which field I eventually wind up in.

When people come to visit WaterShed on the Mall in September, what do you hope they will take away from the experience?
JC: Having an eco-friendly house isn’t limited to new construction or even the rich. Green technology can be affordable, adaptable, and, most importantly, effective in reducing our impact on this earth. Also, I hope our house convinces people our nation’s trend for larger and larger houses is becoming impractical and a house of less than 1000 sq. ft. is adequate for a couple or small family.

What do you always have with you on the job site?
JC: Two crescent wrenches. Never do any job without two crescent wrenches.

How do you spend your time when you’re not on the job site?
JC: Sleeping.

Jeff Rappaport shows Secretary of Energy, Dr. Steven Chu, the WaterShed Liquid Desiccant Waterfall; Washington, D.C., Sept. 30, 2011
Photo Credit: Amy Gardner

Secretary of Energy Dr. Steven Chu visits WaterShed; Washington, D.C., Sept. 30, 2011
Photo Credit: Amy Gardner

This morning, Secretary of Energy Dr. Steven Chu visited several homes in the solar village. WaterShed team members showed him the constructed wetlands and liquid desiccant waterfall (LDW). Constructed wetlands are artificial filtration wetlands, which provide critical animal and plant habitat as well as mitigate impacts of waste water and storm water run-off. The liquid desiccant works with the other heating and cooling systems by absorbing excess humidity from the air.

Team Maryland celebrates after being presented with first place in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011 Architecture Contest, at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, D.C., Wed., Sept. 28, 2011
Photo Credit: Stefano Paltera/U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon

WaterShed, the University’s entry to the US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011, was awarded First Place in the Architecture Contest. “WaterShed achieves an elegant mix of inspiration, function, and simplicity. It takes our current greatest challenges in the built environment—energy and water—and transforms them into opportunities for spatial beauty and poetry while maintaining livability in every square inch,” said Architecture Contest Juror Michelle Kaufmann.

Second place in the Architecture Contest was earned by New Zealand with 95 points awarded, and Appalachian State garnered third place with 94 points awarded.

Awarded 96 points in the Architecture Contest, Team Maryland regains first place in the overall contest. As of 4:30 pm today, WaterShed has earned 447.498 points, leading Ohio State in second place with 439.302 points, and Purdue in third place with 437.955 points.

Leah Davies, Team Leader, on Trip to Visit WaterShed
Photo Credit: Jeff Gipson

Leah Davies is an adamant believer in the messages of WaterShed, and does not shy from an opportunity to share them. Some of these opportunities have come by chance, like when she and some teammates happened to be having dinner at the same restaurant in Annapolis as Governor Martin O’Malley. Others, like the several media outlets she’s been tasked to speak with, are by design, purely because of her ability to convey the important messages of WaterShed so beautifully.

A native of Tampa, Florida pursuing her Master of Architecture degree, Leah is not only one of the more visible faces of WaterShed, she is one of the more “invisible” ones too, preparing communications materials and maintaining the team’s Facebook page. Putting her degree to work, Leah was also a key team leader in the master drawing set of the house. Being very handy with the modeling software, Revit, Leah has taken those first drawings and transformed them to the “as-built” document-set used for WaterShed’s master plan. Below Leah talks about what she’s learned on the project, and what she hopes others will learn too.

What has been your personal WaterShed moment so far?
LD: Honestly, the most rewarding experience I have had thus far was speaking with professionals at the International Builders Show in January and hearing how incredible, relevant, and innovative our design is. As students, it is hard to adjust to the limitations of “real world” design and construction. This conference gave us not only the opportunity to share our message, but also reinforcement that good design can be realized in a practical and affordable manner.

Talk about an unexpected, amazing, frightening, or unlikely experience while working on WaterShed.
LD: One unexpected and amazing experience I have had while working on WaterShed has been meeting the governor of Maryland. After giving a presentation to members of the governor’s staff with a few teammates, we all went for bite to eat at a small, primarily vacant restaurant. Out of all the restaurants in the city, the governor happen to come to the same one, where we were able to meet him and explain how WaterShed moves the Chesapeake Bay region toward a more sustainable future.

What has been your most important learning experience on the project?
LD: The most important thing WaterShed has taught me is the role of the occupant in a successful design. Design is not merely about intention; it is also about impact. I believe WaterShed gives true form to its intention, and those who experience it will truly be made aware of water and the cyclic nature of a functioning ecosystem within their own home. One other very important lesson I have learned from the construction process is that what you draw may not be exactly what you build.

Has working on WaterShed personally affected the way you use water?
LD: Yes. It is easy to take for granted the fact when you turn a knob on your kitchen sink clean potable water comes out for as long a you leave it; but the truth is, that is a rare luxury that takes extreme amounts of work, energy, and natural resources, and is not shared throughout the world. Since working on WaterShed, I have not only learned about how to better manage and use water within my own home, I have learned the processes of our current water cycle and how the built environment affects it. As a result, I take shorter showers, wash my dishes quickly, run less laundry loads, and constantly make an effort to educate others that clean water is not a right, it is a privilege.

How has working on WaterShed influenced your career path?
LD: It is hard to say at this point in my career, but I hope so. I have always been interested in regional architecture that responds to local issues. WaterShed has given me an opportunity to give physical form to this idea at the level of a single residence. I intend to take the design notions and concepts I have learned in this project with me into the real world and apply them in all projects, and at all scales that I design.

When people come to visit WaterShed on the Mall in September, what do you hope they will take away from the experience?
LD: For those that choose to come see WaterShed, along with 18 other teams competing in the Solar Decathlon in September, I hope they realize every person and every built home makes an impact on our environment. It is estimated that half of the wetlands in the US have been lost since 1900. We need to separate ourselves from the idea that there is nature and then there is us; the way we live CAN and SHOULD be in harmony with natural ecosystems and WaterShed teaches people that this is possible.

What do you always have with you on the job site?
LD: When I am on the job site, I always have my Ipad. Whether I need to look up our drawing details, research installation techniques for a certain material, track an order, take photos for a sponsor, or sketch an idea – my Ipad is an ideal tool.

How do you spend your time when you’re not on the job site?
LD: What time? If and when I have time away from the job site, I usually work on our communications materials, my thesis, or simply catch up on laundry and grocery shopping.

Jeff Rappaport and Jay Chmilewski demonstrating LDW
Photo Credit: Amy Gardner

Team Maryland has engaged K-12 students in a variety of ways throughout WaterShed’s process, most notably working with a group of students from The Potomac School in McLean, Virginia. Students from The Potomac School attended meetings of the WaterShed team and followed the progress of the project as the collegiate team weighed options and finalized WaterShed’s design. McKenzie Klein of The Potomac School along with Jeff Rappaport and Jay Chmilewski of Team Maryland spent the winter and spring creating a novel solution for measuring the concentration of lithium chloride in the Liquid Desiccant Waterfall that Team Maryland uses to remove humidity from the house. Together with Dr. Keith Herold, a member of the University’s Bio-Engineering faculty, the team created a device that electronically determines the Lithium Chloride concentration without placing any metal in contact with the highly corrosive substance.

The Liquid Desiccant Waterfall featured in WaterShed advances patent-pending technology developed by Maryland’s Solar Decathlon 2007 LEAFHouse team. This second-generation technology utilizes a salty Lithium Chloride solution in a completely regenerative cycle to remove humidity from the air. Removing humidity from WaterShed’s interior spaces decreases the latent load on the mini-split heat system and helps save energy and money while heating and cooling WaterShed.

When summer break arrived for The Potomac School, nine students joined the UMD team on the construction site each day where they prepared wood siding and decking for installation and worked with the environmental science students to prepare the constructed wetlands ands green roof. Eventually deemed “Team Awesome” by their college mentors, these students had a front row view of not only the construction process but also of the many variables that must be managed and integrated as part of creating a sustainable structure.

Senior civil engineering major Evan Smith, one of WaterShed’s construction managers said, “It was good to work with people who at a young age are interested in learning about living more sustainably. It was great to see their construction knowledge improve over the course of the summer.”

Working with students from The Potomac School helped Team Maryland inspire future Decathletes, building on the University’s Solar Decathlon legacy.

Scott Tjaden with Faculty Mentor Mike Binder
Photo Credit: Jeff Gipson

No one is more excited about the amount of green in WaterShed’s design than Scott Tjaden. An Environmental Science and Technology major, Scott looks at working on WaterShed as an opportunity to apply his background and skills to make a unique contribution to Maryland’s entry. “Ever since the beginning of working on this project, I could feel a want for a greater environmental influence on the project,” says Scott. “In years past, landscape and ‘green things’ were just an add-on item that didn’t get incorporated with other systems on the house.”

Scott’s ingenuity, passion, and enthusiasm were infectious with his teammates, who were keen to embrace his vision. Over the months he sifted, refined, and tweaked a variety of ideas. There were some trials and some errors, but Scott was a trooper throughout, always rolling with the punches. When the dust settled, WaterShed’s living systems came into focus: a green roof to slow runoff and help insulate the house, green walls to provide shade and food, and a major focal point, the constructed wetlands that filtrate runoff and greywater. Designed and nurtured from a terrific idea, this is Scott’s most significant contribution to the project. He talks about that and the many other rewards of WaterShed below.

What has been your personal WaterShed moment so far?
ST: Once everything was in place for filming on-site, it finally hit me it had all come together. After creating a number of different designs for the wetlands over the many months, they were finally built, they were in place, connected to the house, filled with plants, and operating. For the first time, this allowed me to see the wetlands from inside the house and through the shower, not a rough sketch or drawing. The wait was worth it, and it’s only going to get better once we are on the Mall with everything in its place for the competition.

Another highlight would be all of the plants our Living Systems team has grown. I personally have never taken a plant science class, yet have grown some great looking wetland plants. This was with the help from some local nurseries that provided the plants for us in the early spring of 2011. Seeing these plants when we first received them in 2” plugs with a height of about 4”, and now seeing some of them at 7’ tall and green as can be (going to knock on wood so my luck does not run out), combined with long and late night planting events with help from some of the team, is one of my biggest highlights so far.

Talk about an unexpected, amazing, frightening, or unlikely experience while working on WaterShed.
ST: An amazing experience would have to be when we were down in Florida for the International Builders Show in January of this year. We had an opportunity to show our model of the house to the crowds of people who visited the convention, which consisted of trades people and contractors. While standing with the model, many people came up and were in awe of the message and the design. After working on the project, at this point for almost a year, it didn’t seem like that big of a deal (seeing and saying the same thing over and over), but for these people seeing it for the first time it was amazing to them. After having this experience it helped me realize how big this project is and what an impact it may have on what people do within their own homes. This made me feel great and put that much more effort into the project to make it stand out from the rest.

What has been your most important learning experience on the project?
ST: This project has actually shown me how important it is to physically go outside your academic program and interact with other disciplines. I have learned so much from this project that normally through the standard curriculum for my major I would not have. This hands on experience has allowed me to apply what I have learned and incorporate it with other disciplines. Not only me learning from others, but also the fact I am passing my knowledge of environmental ‘things’ onto the immediate team, and eventually the public, who will visit in September.

Has working on WaterShed influenced your career path at all, and if so, how?
ST: Working on WaterShed has opened my eyes to a potential consulting job within the building industry. I have seen through the whole process how my environmental background has made a direct and in-direct impact on the project. If I can use my environmental background to help improve the way we live within society with less of an impact on the environment would be very rewarding. I am still planning on going to graduate school to focus on energy and the many factors that come with renewable energy.

When people come to visit WaterShed on the Mall in September, what do you hope they will take away from the experience?
ST: I hope the public takes away WaterShed’s main message: water conservation. The many features of the house can be implemented on previously built homes or put in the design of new homes. The changes made to a home can be as small as changing to a lower-flow showerhead all the way up to installing solar-thermal on the homeowner’s roof. Another key point would be energy production on-site, reducing the need for energy produced off-site from non-renewable sources. This allows the home owner to have control over what pollutants they put into their environment, through air pollution and water pollutants through runoff.

Also, I hope people see the broader picture of the whole Solar Decathlon competition, how all these Universities from around the world spend two years planning and building a house to show homes can be built in a smarter way. There is a significant amount of research and time that goes into these homes, showing the creativity and how the community, industry, and many different trades can work together to improve the way homes are built for the future.

What do you always have with you on the job site?
ST: A construction pencil and a Utility knife.

How do you spend your time when you’re not on the job site?
ST: I spend a lot of time up in the greenhouse tending to the MANY plants. Other than that, should be getting ready for the GRE.

Maryland leads the collegiate teams in points on the third day of the competition, as seen by the Leader flag, right, at the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011 in Washington, D.C., Saturday, Sept. 24, 2011
Photo Credit: Stefano Paltera/U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon

Despite continuously cloudy skies, the big crowds, high scores and an endorsement from Congressman Roscoe Bartlett are keeping the WaterShed teams spirits high as they finish out the opening weekend of the Solar Decathlon on top. As of Monday morning, Maryland was leading the pack in scores and standings, edging out Purdue, Team China and Parsons School of Design.

Not that any of the team members have a minute to check their placement; the house has had a heavy foot traffic since the doors opened Friday morning, thanks in part to a deluge of media coverage, including the Washington Post, Washington Examiner and the local ABC affiliate, WJLA-TV (click here to see WaterShed in the news).

“Finally being here on the competition site and seeing all of the positive reactions we are receiving from WaterShed is amazing,” said Dave Gavin, a graduate architecture student. “It makes all of the sleepless nights and countless hours spent designing truly worth it to realize all that we have accomplished over the past two years and I could not be more proud of the WaterShed team.”

Before the doors opened to the public on Friday, WaterShed team members provided a special tour Thursday afternoon to University President Wallace Loh, Congressman John Sarbanes (MD-3) and Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (MD-6) as part of a Decathlon VIP event. Rep. Bartlett, who serves as a co-chairman of the House Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RE&EE), gave a powerful endorsement of WaterShed, saying “The University of Maryland has once again set the bar high for all other competitors (to read the press release from Rep Bartlett’s office, click here).”

With a week’s worth of competitions ahead, Team Maryland concentrates on execution, keeping its eye on the finish line. .”We have a long way to go, but I’m proud of how far we’ve come,” says Amy Gardner.

]]> http://2011.solarteam.org/news/team-maryland-holds-the-lead-during-opening-weekend-of-solar-decathlon/feed 0 http://2011.solarteam.org/news/vote-watershed-for-peoples-choice http://2011.solarteam.org/news/vote-watershed-for-peoples-choice#comments Sun, 25 Sep 2011 14:57:14 +0000 David Choy http://2011.solarteam.org/?p=5840 Continue reading]]>

After a stormy day, Maryland shines brightly at night on Friday, Sept. 23, 2011 at the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon at West Potomac Park in Washington D.C.
Photo Credit: Stefano Paltera/U.S. Department of Energy

Vote now. Maryland won the People’s Choice award in 2005 and 2007. Help us win three times in a row in 2011! Let’s keep the tradition alive by voting in this year’s competition!

Voting is limited to one vote per e-mail address, so please share this with your friends and family! Voting ends Sept. 30, 2011, at 7 p.m.

The People’s Choice Award will be presented Oct. 2 at the Victory Celebration. With your help, let’s see Maryland take top prize for the third time!

You can vote mobile, if you prefer!

Vote for WaterShed in the Solar Decathlon 2011 People’s Choice Award! — Vote before September 30th!