Affordable solar homes are lifting homeowners out of poverty

Carbon-negative, self-financing and scalable are just a few words to describe BillionBricks and Architecture Brio’s PowerHYDE. PowerHyde solar homes are models aiming to help solve both the global housing and climate crises.

The PowerHYDE housing model was created by Prasoon Kumar and Robert Verrijt of Billion Bricks from India and Singapore. The housing model won a Holcim Award for Sustainable Construction.

Related: Living conditions rise in an Indonesian village

PowerHYDE house explores sustainable means and solutions to empowering and facilitating growth opportunities to people without homes around Southeast Asia. These homes are now being used to create entire sustainable communities that help to lift homeowners out of poverty.

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“A BillionBricks Community is the world’s first carbon negative solar home community to bring families out of poverty within one generation,” the designers said.

The project presents an opportunity to shape the future of how houses are built. It helps both people to become homeowners and building projects to create their own renewable energy, aiding in the climate crisis. It is a radical concept in housing designed for energy sufficiency and extreme affordability.

A BillionBricks PowerHYDE home is built via an indigenous prefabricated assembly technique that makes it easy to assemble in remote locations. The home has a solar array installed on the roof, and the homeowner can sell excess power generated back to power companies, generating a profit that helps to pay off the cost of the home.

“BillionBricks homes are plug-and-play modular homes that do not need any connection to services and could be made functional from the day of completion of construction,” BillionBricks explained.

The houses produce their energy, and also harvest 100% of the rainwater, clean their sewage and potentially grow their own food. Future BillionBricks homes will be integrated with smart technologies to improve their performance even more.

Sample homes have been built in Mathjalgaon Village in India and in the Philippines. BillionBricks is now planning a full community of 500 homes near Manila, Philippines that will generate 10 megawatt of power. 

+ BillionBricks and Architecture BRIO

Photography by Photograhix