Energy efficiency of formal low-cost housing

South Africa aims to build 3 million houses in the next six years. The most energy efficient design has to be identified to ensure the optimal use of South Africa's resources and to create a prosperous environment for her inhabitants. For this purpose the various formal low-cost house concepts on the market were evaluated and the projected impact on the country calculated. Houses were evaluated by means of a computer programme, Quick. Through simulations it was found that the common brick building built according to passive design guidelines is the best performer. The difference between the best and worst performer accounts to predicted direct cumulative savings in energy costs for a country like South Africa of over R180 million (US$72 million) per anum.