Houses in the proposed eco community in Kilbarry in Waterford City will be designed to be almost carbon neutral, will come with solar panels.
The possibility of including an electric car within a homebuyers' mortgage deal may also be part of the pilot project.
Construction on the first phase of 69 houses will begin in July. These homes would be retro-fitted if the eco community gets the go ahead.
Architect Niall Harrington says an adjacent solar farm will generate income for the community, while the homes themselves make use of solar panels for energy.
He says your house would be earning money for you and that with the combination of the solar farm would allow the homeowner to offset the cost of their mortgage against the savings they would achieve from having no electricity or energy bills from their home.
A spokesperson for Waterford City and County Council told the Irish Independent the council was "supportive of the Kilbarry Sustainable Community pilot and while not direct funders of the project, is keen to see the project progress".
Niall Harrington says they want to push it over the line now and be in a positon to secure funding to allow the development to go ahead.
He says the purpose of the pilot project is that they want the ESB and the Government to back them to get the grid connection for the development which would be a key catalyst for moving forward.
Niall Harrington says they are in the interim pushing ahead with their planning applications. They will have the solar farm application ready to go in the next six weeks.
Currently there is planning application in for 200 homes and they hope to follow that with another 600 residential units in the not too distant future.
