And now, on the tail of the 2007 Decathlon completion, the Department of Energy has announced the next teams in the 2009 competition. You can also see the list at the Solar Decathlon web site.

As a member of the faculty at the Pennsylvania State University and as the Faculty Director of the 2009 PSU team, I am pleased to announce that Penn State will compete for a second time in the upcoming challenge. The Solar Decathlon is an international competition…

…that challenges university students to design, build, and operate a home that is powered exclusively by the sun, integrating solar electricity, hot water, and interior climate control. This will be the fourth Decathlon in 2009. The primary goal of the future home for Penn State, the Natural Fusion project, is to produce cost-effective, building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV; solar-electricity generation).

The Natural Fusion home and the other Decathlon teams will début on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. in September of 2009. Following Penn State’s promising success placing 4th with our first entry, the Morningstar project (www.solar.psu.edu), at the SD2007 competition, we anticipate rising to the occasion again. The Natural Fusion project will involve support and participation from the College of Earth & Minerals Sciences, the College of Engineering, the College of Arts and Architecture, and the Center for Sustainability. The project will integrate research with coursework, and will involve collaboration with industry. Faculty will be involved from across the University.