Are you planning to buy or construct a new home for your family? Latest architectural and design techniques can help you earn money as you live in your new home instead of spending your hard-earned cash on the electricity and utility bills.
The houses on this list are not only beautiful and affordable but are also so energy efficient that they could even power the house next door.
1. ZEB Pilot House in Norway
The Snøhetta’s ZEB Pilot House produces enough energy to keep an electric car running throughout the year. This 200 square-meter house is situated in Larvik, Norway is powered by the geothermal and solar energy.
2. Carbon Positive House in Australia
This solar panel-roofed home has been heralded as the first Australian carbon-positive prefab home. The 800-square-foot house has been designed by ArchiBlox.
Vertical garden walls provide insulation while the double glass façade allows enhanced natural light entrance. Even the interior of the Carbon Positive House is decked out in non-toxic materials.
3. Heliotrope in Germany
This beautiful contemporary home is located in Freiburg, Germany. The most amazing feature of the Heliotrope is that it rotates 180 degrees to follow the sun as it moves and thus, maximises the solar efficiency. The home is made plus-energy by a .6 kWh rooftop solar array.
Water and radiator heating is managed via solar thermal tubing. This Ralph Disch designed house is fitted with composting toilets and rainwater recycling system. Heliotrope can generate five times the energy it needs.
4. Cannon Beach Residence in the US
The Cannon Beach Residence is a plus-energy home is located on the Cannon Beach, Oregon.
This three bedroom house is powered by solar and geothermal energy while the heat recovery ventilators and a high-efficiency heat pump keep the house comfy.
5. Home For Life in Denmark
This stunning Danish house, named Home For Life is a part of a project financed by FKR Holdings. The 2045-square-foot house comprises of two bedrooms. AART Architects have strategically placed the house such that it fulfils 50 percent of its winter heating from the passive solar sources.
A photovoltaic system, solar system for hot water, energy-efficient heat pump and windows, and an automatic natural ventilation system help the home generate more energy than it needs.
6. B10 Aktivhaus in Germany
The Werner Sobek Group designed B10 Activhaus in Stuttgart, Germany. This energy-positive home generates enough energy to power itself, two electric cars, and even the next door building.
This 914-square-foot house is equipped with a rooftop photovoltaic system that can annually generate nearly 8300 kWh of solar energy. A smart energy system has been installed in the B10 Activhaus that can be controlled remotely and learns and adapt to the habits of the residents.
7. Roxbury E+ townhouses in the US
The design of these E+ townhouses by the Interface Studio Architects in Boston, Massachusetts proves that even a cluster of homes can be energy-positive.
Each home is topped with an array of 39 solar panels to generate around 10,000 kilowatts annually. The energy-efficient design ensures that there is always surplus power to be added back to the city grid.
8. Solcer House in the UK by Cardiff University’s Phil Jones
Solcer House is hailed as the first affordable energy-positive house in the Great Britain supplies energy to the grid eight months of the year. Phil Jones and colleagues from Cardiff University designed the three- bedroom house.
One year and over $195,000 later, the designers proved that zero-carbon living can be affordable as well.