As energy policy stands poised to be the next big fight on the Hill, a competition to design a piece of its future is playing out a few blocks away on the National Mall.

In the Solar Decathlon, a competition sponsored by the Department of Energy, teams from 20 universities in four countries build houses powered entirely by the sun. The contest is designed to prove that solar houses have moved beyond the ugly 1970s stereotype and to educate homebuyers and builders about solar's potential to create energy-efficient and livable houses, said Director Richard King. "We wanted to challenge the architecture on how to build a beautiful home," he said. "There are still a lot of homeowners associations that say, 'We don't want that in our neighborhoods.'"

The Department of Energy aims to have marketable zero-energy homes ready by 2020, and solar is going to be a big part of reaching those goals. "It goes with a house so well," King said. "Sunlight is free out there, but once it hits the ground, it's gone.... A house is a perfect collector."

This is the fourth Solar Decathlon; the first was in 2002. Teams made up of undergraduate and graduate students convene on the Mall to create a "solar village" that's open to the public for 10 days in October. The teams put their homes through a series of tests, such as doing loads on laundry and cooking meals, and go through rounds of judging on 10 different aspects, from engineering and lighting design to market viability and communications. King called the competition "part beauty contest, part performance."

For the first time, this year's houses are bi-directional: They feed into Washington's power grid when they're producing more energy than they need, and they draw on the grid when sunlight isn't as abundant. The goal, King says, is to come out net zero at the end of the day. Commercial homes would work the same way: The give-and-take depending on the available sunlight should yield net-zero use at the end of each month. For the competitors, any surplus energy the houses create ups their score.

The contest has drawn lawmakers down from the Hill to support schools and students from their districts. On Tuesday, Rep. Mike Arcuri, a Democrat whose upstate New York district is near Ithaca, toured Cornell University's "Silo House" to see how the students captured the region's aesthetic. Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, also stopped by Silo House, whose team has three Hawaiian students.

The exhibition "has opened my mind to the practical uses of solar," Akaka said. He noted the multipurpose design of Silo House, such as the bed that can be raised to the ceiling to create more floor space during the day. Solar energy would be very applicable in a sunny state like Hawaii, he said. "This is the year of alternative energy," he said.

Arcuri was equally impressed, if less optimistic about solar power's national application. "There are limitations to solar in upstate New York," he said. "You don't get that kind of sun." Plus, he said, the technology is still not cost-effective enough.

Some teams tried to address the cost issue, the most effective being Rice University, whose "Zerow" house will find a permanent home in Houston's poverty-stricken Third Ward after the competition. Zerow was the least expensive house, costing just $140,000 to construct. With pre-fabrication, production costs can be reduced by 40 percent, said team member North Keeragool, an architecture graduate student. The team's goal was to look at what a real homeowner could afford, he said. Rice came in second in the market viability category.

Team California's "Refract House" leads overall by a slim margin, having won for architectural design and communications and placing third in market viability. But with only half of the competition's 1,000 points awarded, it is still anyone's game, King said. The overall winner will be announced Friday morning.

More in Energy Go to section

October 04, 2010 | Energy and Environment Bulletin

Is Unpriced Carbon The Next Subprime?

September 02, 2010 | Energy and Environment Bulletin

Dems Seek Answers On Gulf Explosion

September 01, 2010 | Energy and Environment Bulletin

BP Spent Big On Advertising After Spill

August 24, 2010 | Tech Daily Dose

Biden: Stimulus Dollars Fueling Energy and Life-Saving Technology

August 17, 2010 | Insider Interviews

Deepwater Horizon's Enduring Lessons