More than 800 Penn State students are working on a solar-powered home that boasts a kitchen, bathroom, living space and hydrogen fuel cell car that plugs directly into the home to recharge.

This fall, Penn State will transport the home -- which is about the size of a trailer home and named the MorningStar -- in three parts to compete as one of 20 universities participating in the Solar Decathlon in Washington, D.C. This is the first year that Penn State will enter a home for competition in the program.

The project, which began in spring 2006 at the urging of students and faculty, will start construction this month, said David Riley, the faculty lead adviser to the Solar Decathlon team and the Director of Penn State's Center for Sustainability. The team is currently purchasing materials and building mock-ups to test ideas, Riley said.

The MorningStar's three sections include the core, containing the home's technical systems, such as the kitchen, plumbing, bathroom and heating; a living space constructed from local materials; and a breezeway connecting the two sections, said mechanical team leader Brian Ault (junior-architectural engineering).

During the design phase, the student team established sustainable goals for the project, including using materials that were local and symbolic of Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania industry, faculty adviser Lisa Iulo said.

The design of the home was also influenced by the need to transport the home to Washington, D.C., and the orientation of the home in relation to the movement of the sun, Iulo said.

Beyond the home's design, Ault said what sets Penn State apart from other competing universities is that it is actually building two homes.

While one home will be transported to D.C. for the competition, the other will be sent to the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Montana as part of Penn State's partnership with the American Indian Housing Initiative.

While this is not the first building Penn State has contributed to the reservation, it is the first to be powered by the sun, Ault said.

The competing home will be transported to the National Mall for one week, where it will be judged against the other universities in 10 different categories, including energy efficiency, market viability and aesthetics. The display will also create a publicly accessible "solar village" visited by thousands, Cole Hons, coordinator for public information for the Penn State Outreach News Bureau, said.

According to the competition's Web site, the competition is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and is designed to challenge student competitors to think in new ways about energy and how it impacts everyday lives. It is also intended to push research and development of energy efficiency and energy production and to encourage acting responsibly when making energy choices.

After the competition, the model will return to Penn State and housed at the Center for Sustainability, Laura Silver, director of Outreach for the Center for Sustainability, said.

Silver said the home will be used for teacher education workshops, field trips, informational tours for the general public and professional development workforce training. Courses will be held in the home to provide hands-on training, she added. Additionally, the home will serve as a research and development laboratory where students and faculty can conduct research.

"This project offers the opportunity to have direct experience working with these new designs [and] technologies," Silver said. "It's a win-win-win situation -- to be more competitive in the work place, to help preserve the environment, to have a hands-on experience, and to work with cutting-edge technologies that make a difference," she said.

In addition to education and experimentation with solar technology, the team hopes the project will demonstrate that solar technology is not a futuristic notion but a reality of today, Riley said.

"[We are hoping to] slowly change people's opinions, minds and habits to have a smaller impact on the environment," Ault said. "On top of, of course, winning the competition."

To learn more about the competition or take a look at the home designed by the Penn State team, go to www.solar.psu.edu.