Housing development, as part of the economic development must be supported by energy availability in order to obtain a sustainable growth. One of the approaches to support the renewable energy promotions is designing and building energy efficient housing. However, optimal design of energy efficient buildings is facing two conflicting requirements, namely cost effective consideration and minimum environmental impact. The high costs from energy efficient building such as the Near Zero Energy House (nZEH) is due to high price of materials and equipment used, such as solar panel, insulation and other supporting materials. Indonesia is situated at the equator and received sunlight throughout the year. Nonetheless, this potential has not been fully discovered due to the high cost of the solar generated energy technology for housing. Moreover, this technology is not integrated with the main electricity network. Thus, the objective of this study is to identify the design variables for nZEH that suit the tropical climate condition in Indonesia. Experiments and Case Study are used for the study, and the validated design variables for nZEH, which includes building orientation, PV, fenestration, and passive design, will be the basis for optimum nZEH design.