BOSTON: A development has used prefabrication to build in just 20 days four new homes so efficient that the cost of tenants’ bills will be included in their rent – the first of three features on sustainable housing. The residents of a new breed of eco-housing will have one less thing to worry about when they move in: the quarterly energy bill.
Thanks to the way these homes have been made, their heating and power expenditure will be so modest that it will be included in the rental fee. Fuel bills will be kept low as each of the four properties in this innovative pilot development will feature triple glazing, high-grade insulation and an intelligent thermostat called “Nest”. These systems will function to keeps tabs on energy use, can detect when homes are empty and pings updates across the internet to homeowners’ mobile phones wherever they are in the world.
To reduce waste on site, most of the major structural parts, such as walls, doors and windows, were prefabricated in a factory. Dubbed “Spacehus”, these homes are what designer Volula hopes will be a new generation of sustainable, low-cost homes for the senior rental and first-time buyer markets…
