Maura McCarthy has big ideas. Her challenge to home builders is that each home they build should be net zero. Now. The co-founder and vice president of market development for BluHomes says it's a simple choice, and it's part of how she has revolutionized prefab housing.
Nearly 10 years ago, McCarthy was impassioned to bring sustainable living to consumers in way that they could afford. She worked on an intensive study with the Rhode Island School of Design and MIT during which they aimed to become experts in housing because, admittedly, they had a lot to learn.
“If you are looking at housing worldwide, you would say that the U.S. is not an innovator,” McCarthy says.
Her team looked at the history of housing and American life, starting with 1650 to 1950, when self-reliance and innovation were strong American values. Housing size was growing, and in 1950, the U.S. was the biggest creditor nation.
McCarthy explains that housing size was growing 0.1% per year. Then, in 1970, housing sizes skyrocketed, coinciding with America’s shifting values to consumerism and self-indulgence. During this hedonistic time, Americans also began to experience indoor air pollution, and in the '70s had more negative health issues from indoor than outdoor pollution.
When she launched BluHomes in 2008, McCarthy faced innovation challenges as well as health and economic challenges. At the time, housing was overstretched and overextended in several ways. The average American family couldn’t afford the average American home. In addition, housing size was decreasing for the first time in recent history.
McCarthy and her partner, Bill Hadley, focused on offering a product that was both beautiful and green. To get there, they used an innovative process to build in a controlled environment to high health standards. Hadley offered his expertise in technology and biotech.
“Culturally, the word prefab has stigma,” McCarthy explains of the public relations issue they faced at the time. “It can even signal trailer homes. We wanted technology that would allow us to break out of that mold. One of our early scientific founders was a Ph.D. in computer science and architecture, and he said we need to make something that can ship economically and there are various uses of technology depending on what you are looking at, and we optimized each one. We have four granted patents in that space.”
Typical house design at the time proved that home buyers want to live in big, light-filled spaces, but shipping limitations led to only dark, narrow spaces.
“The general consensus is that you should prefabricate as much of the project as possible in a controlled offsite setting to maximize productivity, minimize waste, and ensure the safest working environment for employees,” said Tom Hardiman, executive director for the Modular Home Builders Association. “This concept lends itself best to three-dimensional, or volumetric, modular construction because you minimize the amount of work done on site. However, the trade-off is with transportation. Shipping three-dimensional boxes is more challenging than shipping folding panels due mainly to height and width restrictions imposed by various transportation agencies.”
To solve this dilemma, the team came up with a folding technology that became part of the Breezehouse, which offers a tall center space and comes in three sizes.
This solution has led to the company's revolutionary progress in prefab building. It boasts five patents now. One of the patents is for a consumer-facing technology that allows buyers to design a home in 3D online, which feeds into the back-end component to determine the folding technology necessary to break the house down for optimal shipping.
Not only has BluHomes changed the formula for prefab, but McCarthy is throwing her energy into homes that are super energy efficient. BluHomes' offerings all have foam insulation, solar, super-insulated windows, and a high-quality, efficient building envelope. McCarthy points out that the Breezehouse can be net zero for $30,000.
“Most people spend that on their kitchen,” she says. “There is no reason why all of what we build cannot be net zero. BluHomes will have 100% of all we build be net zero by 2018.”
“It sounds unconventional, but this industry really needs to be continually learning from one another and from other industries to help evolve the construction market,” Hardiman said. “Less than 10% off all new homes are built utilizing an offsite construction process, meaning 90% of all homes, schools, restaurants, health care facilities, and offices are built in less than ideal conditions and in a less efficient manner.”
As a HIVE 100 Innovator this year, McCarthy is excited about how HIVE will shake up the industry and promote innovation.
“The housing industry is huge and it’s too slow and it’s too old-school and it needs to get faster and skinnier and more bad ass,” she says. “HIVE is a forum, a chance for people to compete and show off what’s possible.”
Be part of the conversation at www.HIVEforhousing.com.
