Creating a Sustainable Home for the Economically Vulnerable

Texas A&M University’s goal is to design and build a safe, high-performance, carbon-neutral, net-zero, and energy-generating attainable house. Through the process, we will foster community development, lifelong learning, health, wellness, and financial stability for “economically vulnerable” classes that breaks their cycle of poverty and amplifies the quality of life, health, and well-being. 

Who We Are Latest Updates

Navigating to Net Zero

A Long-Term Strategy

By designing with our goals in mind, we specified innovations that would allow for a net-zero energy building that accommodates a long-term affordable home for a single-family. Despite the anticipated higher upfront cost, these innovative strategies will save the family money over the long term.

Building a Prototype

The student team used data from their life cycle analysis of the most recently built, local Habitat for Humanity projects as a baseline to design a prototype that optimizes energy efficiency and resource sustainability as a proposed model for future Habitat projects.

Leveraging Local Connections

Solar Texas leverages its partnership with Habitat for Humanity by obtaining most of its materials from local vendors willing to donate excess material for construction. The project will use a combination of student and volunteer labor to reduce labor costs and increase learning opportunities for Texas A&M University students.

A different angle of the same rendered interior of the proposed building design. This perspective shows the dining table from before, which contains a wood grain countertop and lounge style seats all along it. Behind the dining table, the island countertop can be seen, with a sink now being seen in the island countertop. More windows can be seen on the opposite wall from the cooking area.
Rendering of the combined dining, living and kitchen area.

About the Design

The building site is in the City of Bryan. The design achieves net-zero status first by using passive design strategies to drive down energy loads via site orientation, a combination of overhangs and shading devices designed to minimize solar heat gain and maximize the use of natural daylight.

Explore Our Design