It was reported today that newscientist.com said that American ingenuity got blindsided by German engineering last Friday at the third Solar Decathlon hosted by the United States Department of EnergyOctober 19, 2007 solar engineering teams from around the world showed off solar-powered homes on the National Mall in Washington, DC, as they competed for the title of best solar-powered home.

The University of Colorado won the 2003 and 2005 competitions and was the odds-on favorite to win again this yearDarmstadt Technical University in Darmstadt, Germany swept the Architecture, Lighting, and Engineering categories of this year's 2007 contest.