Team Missouri’s solar house is coming back to the campus of Missouri University of Science and Technology following the conclusion of the 2009 Solar Decathlon in Washington, D.C.

The Missouri team, which included students from Missouri S&T and the University of Missouri-Columbia, finished 11th in the competition. Twenty university teams from around the world designed and built solar houses for the decathlon. The houses and teams were judged in 10 events, including architecture, engineering and energy balance.

Team Germany’s house was judged to be the best in the competition. The Germans edged out the University of Illinois and Team California for top honors.

Team Missouri’s house was originally designed and built at Missouri S&T. It is currently being disassembled at the competition site on the National Mall. Soon, it will be shipped back to Rolla, where three houses from previous competitions are already on foundations in Missouri S&T’s Solar Village.

Missouri S&T and the Universidad de Puerto Rico are the only universities that have been associated with all four Solar Decathlons, which are typically held every-other-year in Washington.

The competition officially took place from Oct. 8-18. Public tours of the houses ended Sunday, Oct. 18. Missouri S&T students on the National Mall reported long lines and thousands of visitors over the weekend.

More information about the Solar Decathlon is available at http://www.solardecathlon.org/.