Looking for ways to cut down electricity and water bills? Here is a list of houses across the country that use innovative methods to be energy-efficient and reduce wastage.

T here’s often a misconception that building a sustainable or greener home comes with a lot of risks and compromises on comfort. But this is far from true as today with several unique innovations and techniques people are opting for spaces that complement their surroundings.

By harvesting solar energy or rainwater or by using several passive ventilation and solar methods, now one can make their home more energy-efficient, reduce wastage and cut down on bills.

So, here’s a list of eight houses across the country that use several unique methods to save on electricity and water bills:

Kanubhai Karkare, an officer at the education department in Amreli has designed and built his sustainable house in 2000 for Rs 2.8 lakh.

At first glance, his house might look like any other concrete building that we see in our neighbourhood. But if you take a stroll around, you will notice an array of unique sustainable features the house has.

For Madhusudhan Joshi, a professor at the Goa College of Pharmacy, building a sustainable house was not just a dream. It was also an effort toward putting into practice what he taught his students while taking lessons on renewable energy.

Thus in 2018, he built a sustainable house in Panaji, that’s fully powered by solar energy but using a unique hybrid system.

The cost of installing the system is Rs Rs 5,80,000.

In 2019, Vishwanath, a Civil Engineer and Urban and Regional Planner, and Chitra who was an architect built their sustainable house at Vidyaranyapura in Bengaluru. The two-storeyed eco-friendly house was built using compressed different eco-friendly materials. Besides, there are several other features they have adopted, for minimising the usage of natural resources, like energy, water and materials.

Rajesh and Vallari Shah, moved back to India from the US in 2007 aiming for a transition from a reckless lifestyle dependent on over-utilising resources to a more cautious and sustainable one. Thus they built a green home on the principles of love and an ahimsa (non-violent) way of life at Laughing Waters, Whitefield in Bengaluru.

It was always a dream for Snehal Patel, a Surat-based Mechanical Engineer, to build a house which is far from the hustle-bustle of everyday life. Finally, when he built his dream house, he decided to make it as sustainable as possible to have a life close to nature.

This Mangalore-tiled roof bungalow is inspired by Travancore’s traditional architecture with free-flowing spaces and grand windows, it is a perfect amalgamation of modern design techniques and vernacular concepts of natural light ventilation.

Veena Lal, who runs an NGO named Karma Marg in Faridabad, constructed her eco-friendly home with the help of a young Mumbai-based architect named Amol Mannekar. Her 1,800 sq ft sustainable mud house consumes very little energy and has no water connections that lead to wastage.

Balasunda Kaushikan, a Bengaluru-based architect, built his dream home in his village in Theni, Tamil Nadu, based on the zero-waste concept. The sustainable house was built for Rs 55 lakh. Besides, his house employs several sustainable practices that reduce energy consumption and water wastage.

To start your journey towards building a sustainable life, explore and enroll yourself in courses by The Better Academy.

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