In June 2010, the Solar Decathlon Europe took place for the first time in Madrid. The aim of the international competition is to develop and independently build experimental and cutting edge homes. In terms of their annual energy balance, the buildings must cover their energy needs by using solar power. During the eight-day competition, judging panels assessed the buildings in ten individual disciplines. In Madrid, the University of Virginia from the USA successfully beat off 16 competitors to achieve first place. Two university teams from Germany also made it onto the winning rostrum.

The Solar Decathlon, which is based on the American version of the competition, was brought to Europe for the first time by the Spanish Ministry of Housing and Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. An agreement with the US Department of Energy made this possible. The international competition enables students in interdisciplinary teams to already turn theoretical designs into practice during their studies. In addition, the organisers want to raise awareness among the general public about the need to take a responsible approach to using energy and demonstrate that comfortable living and energy efficiency can coexist in harmony.

At the first Solar Decathlon Europe, 17 student groups from different universities presented their buildings of the future. These included four German university teams, supported by many external planning, industry and research partners. All participating teams constructed their buildings within just a few days on the open space at the Villa Solar on the Rio Manzanares. The results are very impressive. The students from Rosenheim achieved second place, just behind the winners from the USA and ahead of Stuttgart, which came in third. The teams from Wuppertal and Berlin were respectively ranked 6th and 10th.