The topic of alternative energy is not only relevant to a multitude of issues today, it is also an effective vehicle for developing instruction that applies across a variety of content disciplines and academic standards. Since many of the issues associated with alternative energy are open-ended, alternative energy also lends itself to project-based and problem-based instruction. As part of the Mentoring Science Program (MSP), a federal Math Science Partnership grant program supported through the U.S. and Pennsylvania Departments of Education, and offered by Saint Francis University in partnership with Appalachia Intermediate Unit 8 (IU8), the authors utilized alternative energy as the springboard to develop a curriculum for a two-week Summer Science Institute that incorporated content from each of the STEM disciplines into a project-based design challenge in which teachers constructed a model of a passive solar house. The project-based, integrated STEM team challenge proved to be a wonderful and fun learning experience for everyone involved and, from preliminary observations, greatly enhanced planned collaboration among teachers within the schools. Teachers became very enthusiastic about the challenge aspect of the project and seemed grateful to learn about some of the science behind alternative energy, some authentic alternative energy projects located in their region, and how to incorporate engineering and technological design into science instruction. (Contains 7 figures and 1 table.)