Brazil

Social housing in Sao Paulo. Brazil's new social housing program will require the use of solar water heating in those dwellings for families earning 3 minimum salaries or less.

In 2009 the Brazilian federal government launched Minha Casa, Minha Vida, a large scale low income housing programme. The programme counts with an initial investment of $34 BRL billion, aiming for 1 million homes during Phase 1. Some of the resulting neighbourhoods are experimenting with solar technologies. In 2010 the federal government made the use of solar hot water systems mandatory for a large percentage of the dwellings to be built during Phase 2. As a result, an estimated 300,000 to 400,000 dwellings are likely to have solar hot water, boosting the use of solar technologies in Brazilian cities.

The fieldwork research on solar technologies in Brazilian cities will use similar research parameters to the ones used for Indian cities, aiming at the development of comparisons. The fieldwork phase will be carried out in late 2011.

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