Team SHUNYA (Sustainable Housing for Urbanizing Nations by Young Aspirants) is a student technical team of young passionate students from IIT Bombay who have joined hands together for a sustainable future with the help of innovation in the field of housing. The team was founded in 2012 under the guidance of Prof. Rangan Banerjee. We were the only team who represented India in the prestigious Solar Decathlon, often referred to as the ‘Olympics of Sustainable Architecture’ and organised by the US Department of Energy. We aim to build “affordable prefabricated net-zero solar-powered houses” and secure India’s future energy concerns. We strive to develop technology to build a solar-powered, sustainable house for the Indian middle class, which could serve as the answer to India’s growing energy and housing crisis.

Team SHUNYA is a completely student-led multidisciplinary team. We have 57 team members comprising students from over 17 departments. These include students from architecture, engineering as well as management. All these diverse individuals are united for a common aim, which is to revolutionise the sustainable housing sector in the country. We have about 8 faculty advisors across various disciplines of IIT Bombay who have constantly guided and supported the team.

As I mentioned above, Team SHUNYA was founded in 2012 under the guidance of Prof. Rangan Banerjee and since then the team has completed 4 projects.

We participated in the Solar Decathlon (2014), Versailles, France, where we received Honourable Mention in Sustainability for Project H-naught (H⁰) which was a ground-floor building.

In 2018, we were awarded the Best Participation Award at Solar Decathlon Dezaou, China, for Project Solarise, which was a G+1 building.

During the pandemic phase, the team switched to the design challenge and we were the runner-up at the US Solar Decathlon design challenge where the team designed an attached housing society (10 houses) of an artist village in Navi Mumbai. This was called Project Daksh.

Our latest is Project Vivaan for which we received funding of $50,000 from the US Department of Energy and placed second in the US Solar Decathlon build challenge.

We aim to build “affordable prefabricated net-zero solar-powered houses” that will make India’s future energy secure. We strive to develop technology to build a solar-powered, sustainable house for the Indian middle class, which could serve as the answer to India’s growing energy and housing crises.

Our mission is three-pronged:

–  Bring about a change in the Indian building industry by demonstrating the affordability of sustainable housing

–  Formulating and documenting a design process that could be replicated to create sustainable homes in a resource-efficient way

–  Raising awareness in the nation about energy efficiency, responsible energy use, and the potential of renewable technology with an emphasis on solar energy

The actual process of building sustainable housing starts with the design itself. While designing the house, the 3 P’s of Sustainability i.e., planet, people, and profit are considered. Windows are chosen to maximise natural ventilation and optimise daylight to reduce artificial lighting. The landscaping is planned to utilise the excavated stones and natural resources. Materials are selected for their lower u-value that provide better thermal comfort and circular life and is produced from natural material to reduce embodied carbon emissions. Greywater recycling, rainwater harvesting, and water-efficient fixtures are used to reduce water consumption. Finally, renewable energy generation technologies are selected to satisfy the energy consumption of the building.

Speaking specifically about our project, Project Vivaan is a fully functional net-zero building. Our house is net zero in three aspects – energy, carbon, and water. Most of the materials that we have used here are green and have a minimum or negative carbon footprint.

According to IGBC standards, if a house recycles more than 80% of its water, it is termed a net zero water house. As a result of grey-water recycling, rainwater harvesting, and water-efficient fixtures of UPIC 3-star rating, Vivaan ended up reusing 82% of the 668 litres of water required every day. This house is net positive energy owing to the abundant solar energy available in countries like India. With 24 half-cut mono PERC panels, we were able to generate about 13.5 kWh per day. Using inverters, batteries, and grid islanding, the house will be able to function day and night across seasons.

Our current project Vivaan has been designed keeping in mind a family of 4, i.e. parents and 2 children in our target market of Navi Mumbai. By the 10th year of Vivaan’s lifecycle, the additional investment costs will be returned. However, a conventional house won’t provide the buyer any savings and after the 10-year mark of recovering its initial cost, Vivaan would still provide the owner a huge sum of savings every year. Moreover, the previous project of Team SHUNYA i.e. Project Daksh, Project Solarize, and Project H-naught are designed for different climatic conditions and target groups from High-Income Groups (HIG) to Low-Income Groups (LIG).

We received whole-hearted support from the Institute throughout the project. Our network consists of 8+ faculty advisors across various disciplines of IIT Bombay who have constantly guided and supported us throughout the project. The Institute has been immensely supportive – whether it was monetary support, providing us with the land for the project, or with support for all the team’s activities, IIT Bombay helped us achieve our vision.

The house will be a living lab for Team SHUNYA where we will perform post-construction experiments and look for discrepancies between simulation results and experimental results. The experiment for the development of new technologies will also be performed in the house. Currently, discussions are underway to include the house as a case study in different courses at the institute.

We have also received requests for the construction of about 7 residential buildings and farmhouses. We were also approached by 2 builders to construct net-zero buildings. We will also be collaborating with the City and Development Industrial Corporation (CIDCO) for a mass housing project. As a team that envisions revolutionising the sustainable housing sector, we wish to take our project to the masses and transform sustainability into a norm rather than a trend.

We know that there is still a long way to go in making the building sector more sustainable. Our team remains committed to driving positive change and finding new ways to create more sustainable buildings. We believe that through continued innovation and collaboration, we can build a more sustainable future for all.