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Homes with a Brain - The new smart homes integrate new technology
while keeping flexible for future innovations. A central command
for everything from lights,
security, and temperature control to entertainment features such as TVs,
computers, and music are all connected to one central powerhouse that can
be accessed from anywhere in the home. Programming options will
allow you to set the home to various tasks based on the time of day.
Imagine waking as the blinds open to the sun in your room, the kids are
all woken for school by the house using lights and/or radio alarms, the
coffee is already brewed and the security system turns off the evening
protections so you don't set it off as you grab your morning paper.
At the end of your day, the house checks that all the lights are off for
you, all the doors and windows are locked, the security system is on,
and maybe the refrigerator tallies its contents so it can remind you in
the morning that you are running low on milk.
Automated Climate Control - Homeowners with newer
heating and cooling systems already know the benefit of automated
temperature control. Currently the system can check the
temperature and adjust to the ideal climate you preprogrammed. In
the future, these systems will be even smarter. Look for future
heating and cooling systems to respond to more than just temperature.
They will also adjust according to sunlight and wind - perhaps your
shades will automatically close against a setting sun. Climate
control will also become easier by zone or area. You
can control heating to the bedrooms at night in the winter while
balancing the rest of the house so you are not paying to heat empty
rooms.
The Efficient "Big Brother" - Smart homes of the
future will help us monitor how we use energy and resources.
With a fully integrated home, families can examine how they are
using and wasting energy, water, etc. They can then easily determine where
they can make changes to make their homes more energy efficient and
environmentally friendly.
Smart Appliances - These futuristic appliances can tell when
your dishes are clean and will stop washing
automatically. Your laundry will also only run until the rinse
water is clean which will moderate water use and shorten cleaning
time. Or better yet, instead of running the whole timed 60
minutes, the dryer will stop as soon as your clothes are dry.
Solar Energy - Recent oil prices and
environmental concerns have created a resurge in the use of solar power.
The new solar panels are not the same ones from the 70s. Instead,
new solar panels on the market collect more photovolatic energy and are
easier to install. Many homes are already including a few solar
panels on the roof to offset energy costs. Setting the panels at
the right slop towards where the house receives the most sun exposure is
key. Even in a sunny state like California, consumers should
realistically expect only a
50-75% savings at this time. But this is still substantial!
Just imagine, as technology improves, so will our ability to use the
sun's energy.
Wind Energy - Harnessing wind energy for a
single urban residence is in a much more experimental/infancy stage than
solar energy. But in the future, wind energy may help offset your
energy costs just as much. Traditionally, wind power has been on a
large scale and usually used rurally because the size of the turbines.
But there are innovative thinkers already creating compact wind turbines
for the urban resident. A recent example is the
Clarian
Jellyfish that is no more obstructive than a TV antenna on the roof.
Wireless Energy - Various forms of wireless energy
are still under experimentation. Some are already proven to work
in models - such as the
WiTricity
created by MIT Professor Marin Soljačić. In the future, using
electromagnetic induction, microwaves or even lasers, energy may be
transferred without the use of wires. In cases such as
electromagnetic induction, the transmitting energy is reportedly safe to
humans as energy moves from the power source to the receiver at a
resonant frequency that matches each other but not other items in the
environment. At this point the idea is that homes will still be
connected to the city power grid, but all the devices in the home would be
powered without wires. Imagine never having to charge your cell
phone again or hanging a television on the wall without any wires.
To read a bit more,
click here.
Phones - Will your home in the future have a
standard phone line? Many customers have been dropping phone line
use in favor of wireless options - in fact, last year it was estimated
that one in every five homes only uses wireless phones.*
In addition, homes are now using more Internet phone and communication
options such as video conferencing. Homes in the future may not be
built with a standard phone line as more users switch to an IP based or
wireless phone plan. Already many businesses are cutting costs by
either not upgrading or not installing these phone lines for
reconstruction or new construction projects. Starting with the
business sector first, it may only be a matter of time when the phone
line becomes
optional for new homes.
Security - Many of the gadgets from the
movies are now a reality for the everyday consumer. It is becoming
easier to set up cameras around your home that you can access from any
computer on a secured site. Add to this new electronic locks that
allow you to lock/unlock your home online - perhaps you forgot to lock
the doors this morning but can now do so from work or you want to let
your neighbor in to bring in the paper while you're on vacation.
And yes, these new locks will let you track which doors are opened, when
and, in the future, by whom. You can already get fingerprint
readers that will limit access to computers and/or your home. Some
of the new model homes also include iris scans that make keys almost
unnecessary.
Space - In the cities our available living space
can be limited and will be even more so in the future.
For urban living, therefore, it makes sense that our living spaces
take on multiple functions. Tucking away what is not in use and
creating efficient use of space is a common element many urban homes are adopting. For example, compact, built-in furniture features
can help turn a living room into a bedroom or dining room. Perhaps suburban
and even some rural homes will adopt some of these innovations as they
give evidence of their cost effectiveness. Homebuyers may use
urban designs to lower energy bills and the cost of building or
remodeling a home. However, large homes will not disappear
overnight and design will not change in most of the country until these
slim urban concept designs prove their efficiency without sacrificing comfort.
Plants - Plants can help make a room more appealing
and complete. In the future, plants may also be used to facilitate
cleaner air in the home or to help clean waste water. Plants
already can act like a carbon filter and help in taking gases such as
carbon monoxide and formaldehyde out of the air.*
Maybe start this today and get a spider plant which is reported to work
on both of these gasses. Currently plants may also be used around
the home to help slow chemicals from storm runoff, safely
adsorbing chemicals and creating clean waste. In the future, as more ways to
treat water through
phytoremediation are developed, this technology may become more
accessible and plants may take a greater role in helping remove toxins
from the water coming in and out of our homes.
Sprinklers - Okay, so not as impressive as say
wireless energy, but the new sprinkler systems are still pretty neat -
and cost effective.
New systems allow for thinking sprinkler systems that will water the
lawn only as needed. Set to read the amount of rain already
received - you won't see automated sprinklers on during a rainstorm
again!
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Virtual Tours of Model Future Homes:
Disney's Innoventions Dream Home
http://www.disneylandevent.com/tsm/dreamhome.html
Wired LivingHome 2.0
http://www.wired.com/promo/wiredhome/
BBC Tour of Miller Homes' Zero Carbon Home
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8243810.stm
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