Practical Home Designs To Improve Living Standards

The iShack, developed with a grant from the Gates Foundation, can help bring renewable electricity to the slums of South Africa. Image via iShack Living.

Here are some back-to-basics designs that provide inexpensive shelter to impoverished communities while also including sustainable technologies to help raise living standards. Read more →

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Boston’s Deep Energy Retrofit Goes Platinum

Boston's Castle Square Apartments after the retrofit. Image via National Affordable Housing Management Association.

With a 5-inch-thick shell of super-insulation materials, a retrofit apartment complex in Boston plans to reduce heating and hot water costs by 73 percent. Read more →

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Passive House Affordable Housing In Philly Breaks The Mold

Onion Flat Rowhouses, Philly

This attractively designed development is a marked departure from the city's affordable housing stock, offering extreme savings for residents on tight budgets. Read more →

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Green Housing For The Homeless Saves San Francisco Cash

Richardson apartments

When does green affordable housing actually save a city cash? When it gives residents a chance to break the cycle of poverty (and treat medical issues too). Read more →

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SoCal Affordable Housing Complex Keeps Its Cool With Bamboo

Tahiti-Housing-Daly-Genik

An affordable housing complex in Santa Monica makes use of a bamboo grove to retain storm water and create a cool microclimate, avoiding the need for AC. Read more →

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Green Affordable Housing To Break The Cycle Of Poverty

The Hegeman Residence

The Hegeman Residence -- offering housing for the homeless in Brooklyn -- uses energy efficiency to reduce residents' bills and green space to foster community. Read more →

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Affordable Green Homes Selling Like Hotcakes in Utah

Solaris at Daybreak

The homes at Solaris at Daybreak in South Jordan, Utah, feature solar power, geothermal systems and other green features, and sell from the low $200,000s. Read more →

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Green, Affordable Housing In NYC: Via Verde Shows The Way

Via Verde, Bronx

In the Bronx, the much-anticipated Via Verde affordable housing complex features solar power, green roofs and sweeping views of the city -- for everyone. Read more →

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In Spain, Cogeneration Powers Major Affordable Housing

Spanish affordable housing project

In Salburua, Spain, an affordable housing project spanning a city block makes use of combined heat and power to cover its electricity needs and then some. Read more →

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Green Public Housing With No Added Costs

The Village Green, Rome, Georgia

Can public housing be green housing, without taxpayers footing a bigger bill? The firm behind The Village Green, a green public housing development, says 'yes.' Read more →

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