Yahoo Finance Haus.me set to break ground in US with sustainable tiny homes
The world’s first fully self-sustainable, off-the-grid house may soon be coming to a vacant property near you.
Nevada-based haus.me is now set to make its first U.S. deliveries of its luxury 3D-printed, pre-fabricated “tiny homes” beginning in February 2020.
“Three years ago, we decided to create something incredible. We decided to create the most efficient house in the world,” Max Gerbut, the founder & CEO of haus.me, told Yahoo Finance’s YFi PM. “Now it’s a product.”
Haus.me currently offers three types of home models: a 400 square feet “studio” that includes a kitchen and bathroom; a two-bedroom, 800 square foot model; and its newest, largest design at 1,600 square feet. The latter has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths.
“It’s the first ever case when a building can be completely zero carbon emission,” Gerbut explained.
The design reduces home energy use by more than 20 times when compared to a typical house, according to haus.me. It does so by utilizing a mix of technologies such as solar power, water generation from air condensation, heavy insulation, and autonomous sewage.
Gerbut said that achieving such levels of self-sustainability, regardless of location, was not easy.
“It’s easy to be on the grid in some place like San Francisco. But in New York, where the temperature may be below [freezing], we need a lot of energy to heat this house,” he told Yahoo Finance. “The key point is this house can generate enough electricity to heat itself in cold weather…just seven kilowatts per hour is enough to heat this house in any place.”
For potential buyers looking at purchasing one of the prefab homes, haus.me follows a method similar to the automakers.
“Customers visit our website, they can select different options, select different models,” Gerbut stated.
“It works like a configured page when you’re choosing a new car. Very simple, very easy. And you can choose any color of decor and any home appliances,” he added.
Deign, sustainability, and choice aside — a critical question remains over whether the homes will become merely a niche product, or see a wider embrace by the housing industry and home buyers. Either way, Gerbut expressed confidence about the outlook.
“The big goal is to show people and explain to people how self-sustainable life is possible,” he added.
Nick Robertson is a senior producer at Yahoo Finance.
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