Wash. State University students race to finish building home for

It took almost three years of planning, hands-on hard work and ingenuity, but a solar home built by Washington State University students is finally getting its day in the sun.

The team's home is one of 18 entries in the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon competition, which continues through Friday on the National Mall in Washington D.C.

It feels really good to actually be here and have all this great publicity, said Andrea Read, a team member and third-year architecture student. So much of the public is here, and it feels really good to have them see what we've been working on for so long.

WSU students designed and constructed the fully solar-powered home, described as Lego-like for its ease of disassembly into re- joinable pieces. Making transportation easy was a priority - after all, the home was shipped from the school's Pullman campus to be rebuilt on National Mall - but so was building a home that didn't look like it just came out of a crate.

Beginning Sept. 29, participants had four and a half days to reassemble their homes and to pass the code inspections that would deem them ready for both the competition and for members of the public to visit. The inspections went smoothly, Read said, but getting some of the mechanical systems worked out presented more of a challenge. With only one engineering major on a team made mostly of architect students, the team stretched a little bit of technical knowledge a long way.

We have some very dedicated team members who have taken it on themselves to get it up and running, Read said. It's been really a challenge, but it's been a great learning experience for those of us in the design area.

Homes are judged in 10 areas that range from architecture to powering appliances to providing enough energy to motor an electric car. Contests began Oct. 8 and will continue until Friday, when the overall winner will be announced.

Daily updates on the team's Web site at www.cea.wsu.edu/solardec chronicle the experience. The official competition Web site at www.solardecathlon.org provides up-to-date standings and photos from each day's competition.

After the competition, the WSU home will be on permanent display in Seattle's Magnuson Park, where it'll be used as a solar testing facility and educational resource.

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