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Orange County Great Park to Host 2014 Solar Decathlon

For the first time, following a national, competitive process, this biennial worldwide competition will be held outside of Washington, D.C., and take place on October 3-13, 2013 in California at the Orange County Great Park. Townsend Public Affairs played a pivotal role in securing the support of a bipartisan coalition of local, state, and federal elected officials for the Orange County Great Park’s proposal.

The Solar Decathlon, which will feature the world’s leading colleges and universities competing to design the energy-efficient, solar-powered homes of the future. The competition will be the centerpiece of a larger showcase called the XPO, a world’s fair of clean, renewable and efficient energy hosted at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, California.

Solar Decathlon offers the State of California a fantastic opportunity to highlight the State’s unparalleled innovative spirit and focus on the jobs of the future. Of the 20 collegiate teams, five universities comprising four teams that represent California in the competition – Santa Clara University; Stanford University; Southern California Institute of Architecture and California Institute of Technology; and the University of Southern California. The competition invites the public to tour homes and meet student decathletes, which provides free ideas and advice on how to save money and protect the environment by incorporating the latest technologies and products. The XPO also offers hands-on workshops and programming showcasing the growing clean, renewable and efficient energy industry.

The Orange County Great Park will host the Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon 2013 and XPO from October 3-13, 2013.

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