One of them is Empowerhouse, which was designed and built by students from Parsons School of Design and Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy at The New School
Stevens Institute of Technology for the 2011 Solar Decathlon competition. Empowerhouse was exhibited on the National Mall of Washington DC along with other contenders in the competition. Empowerhouse then relocated to Washington DC´s Deanwood neighborhood where it was transformed into a duplex for two families. Collaborators on the innovative, energy-efficient duplex also included Habitat for Humanity, and Washington, D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development. 

Empowerhouse: A Public Model for Sustainability

The design of Empowerhouse grew out of a community-based approach to building affordable, net-zero housing. While many of the homes in the Solar Decathlon competition come with a multimillion-dollar price tag, the Empowerhouse design team prioritized creating a sustainable home priced for working-class families. Each unit in the duplex sold for $220,000, making Empowerhouse a reasonably priced housing alternative that also allows the homeowners to generate major savings on energy bills. 

Lakiya Culley lives in and owns one of the units. A working mother with three children, Culley told a local news station that she found the experience of owning an Empowerhouse unit “surreal when I stepped into the finished product… I was amazed. It was more than I could even imagine.” Culley participated in a home-ownership program that allowed her to purchase the unit for $220,000, according to Teresa Hamm, senior project manager, Habitat for Humanity of Washington, D.C.

“It changes our lives significantly,” said Culley, who works as a secretary for the State Department, of owning a sustainable home. Added Joel Towers, executive dean, Parsons School of Design, the Empowerhouse “fulfills a longstanding vision of our team to create a house that would endure in a meaningful way after the Solar Decathlon was over.”

Net Zero, Synergistic Components 

Each 900-square-foot unit in the duplex was carefully designed to limit square footage, in order to reduce the structure’s overall energy demands. A 4.2 kilowatt (kW) solar-photovoltaic system allows the building to function as a Net Zero home, producing as much or more electricity than it uses during a year. The solar array creates energy for heating and cooling—a major achievement given the DC area’s large temperature fluctuations throughout the year. The solar PV system also lights the home, powers the electrical appliances, and heats the water, thus eliminating electricity bills for the families living in the duplex.