In designing affordable housing, it's important to not only look at cost-effective product sourcing but also the sustainability and efficiency of products to reduce environmental impact and ensure affordable running costs for the tenants or owners. Affordable housing is not simply reducing the ‘buy price’, it is the ‘living price’ the occupants need to be sustainable. 

Hometech offers two products that can help reduce the ongoing living costs for a house.

Solatube Skylights

Solatube Tubular Daylight Devices (TDDs) allow designers to use natural resources to light the interior of a home.

Architects and designers can specify Solatube TDDs with confidence knowing that they have the “Solar Impulse Efficient Solution” Label by The Solar Impulse Foundation. Plus, if a designer is working towards LEED Certification goals for a project, Solatube can help as well. Solatube International have compiled helpful documentation and a credit Matrix.

Some worthwhile international projects using Solatube in affordable housing are:

‘The Six’, MacArthur Park, LA

This Brooks + Scarpa Architecture design comprised 52 studio and one-bedroom units for previously homeless Veterans, the design included using Solatube Daylighting devices to bring light into the apartments. View project

Kaupuni Village, Hawaii

The first net-zero energy affordable housing community in Hawaii consists of 19 single-family affordable homes and a community resource centre. The project designed by Group 70 International achieved the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum designation. View project

Unovent Ductless Home Ventilation System

With one in five homes suffering from dampness in New Zealand, there is a chance that fresh air supply systems or positive pressure ventilation (PPV) systems could become part of building standards for new home builds in the future.

These PPV systems, over the life cycle of the home, not only reduce the toll on the occupant’s health and wellbeing; they also help the integrity and longevity of the building itself.

Unovent by Hometech is a cost-effective PPV system for new builds, and with running costs for a four-outlet system of less than $1 per month, it is affordable for any tenant or owner.

Unovent, being a modular ductless system, has individual whisper-quiet fans and filters in each unit. With no centralised fan or ducting, the system can be up to half the cost of other PPV systems; making it an excellent solution for affordable houses.