The Eco-Friendly Homes of the Future

Talking about the eco-friendly homes of the future, depending on who you ask, may seem somewhat far-fetched considering that building an eco-friendly home today is still considered quite advanced.

Although we now have the means and knowledge to build zero-consumption homes with natural and renewable materials, the reality is that many of our clients still prefer to invest their money in more square meters of house rather than in efficiency.

Even so, our goal is always to achieve a balance between efficiency and the needs of each family. We always strive for zero-consumption and healthy homes, but ultimately each house is for a specific client with particular needs that we must respect and address in the best possible way.

Nevertheless, more and more clients are giving us free rein to achieve zero-consumption passive houses and are willing to sacrifice some square meters or unnecessary finishes to invest part of the budget in efficiency systems, aware that their home will not consume energy.

For this reason, we are optimistic and believe that the culture of Slow living in harmony with the environment is spreading increasingly, and we are pleased to be an active part of this movement that continues to gain followers who apply it in their daily lives.

Today, however, we want to go further and discover what improvements will come to our homes beyond zero consumption. Once we have technically achieved a house that does not consume energy, we can go one step further and begin to introduce systems that either optimize consumption even more or make our lives and the maintenance of our eco-friendly home easier.

Today we review the latest technical and technological advances in eco-friendly homes and have selected some of those that have caught our attention the most.

Here they are!

The Eco-Friendly Homes of the Future

After reviewing all the technologies available for the home, visiting websites and trade fairs, and following many current affairs blogs, we have selected 9 key changes to consider:

1. Efficient Lighting

LED bulbs are already beginning to be implemented in some new construction facilities and in some homes with the aim of drastically reducing light consumption.

The difference in energy required for the same level of light between an LED and an incandescent bulb can be as much as 85%. For example, to reach an illumination level of 500 lux (unit of measurement for lighting), an incandescent bulb needs 45 W while an LED requires only 9 W.

But LEDs not only represent savings compared to incandescent bulbs, but also compared to low-energy bulbs. Furthermore, apart from the fact that an LED requires less energy to operate, its lifespan, and therefore its cost-effectiveness, is far superior. It is estimated that an LED bulb can last up to 70,000 hours, which translates to 50 years. For this reason, although the price is somewhat higher than low-energy bulbs, the use of LED technology is highly cost-effective.

However, it is also worth mentioning the drawbacks. It has been studied that LEDs have a certain flicker imperceptible to the naked eye but which we do receive. In this regard, flicker-free LED bulbs are already appearing on the market and are worth considering if we want healthy lighting in our home.

Apart from replacing the type of bulbs, the eco-friendly homes of the future will also have the ability to adjust the amount and/or type of light in a home.

The human eye is accustomed to light like that of the sun, changing throughout the day. If we spend many hours at home, monotonous and unchanging light can tire our eyes or even cause headaches.

Adjusting the light to each moment of the day allows us both to save light and improve our well-being at home.

While controlling lighting scenarios, color, and temperature requires home automation systems that increase the cost of electrical installation, it is worth considering them at least in areas of extended use such as living rooms where we can perform different activities throughout the day.

2. Smart Blinds

At a bioclimatic level, the position of windows is important in two aspects: light and regulating the entry of heat from the sun.

Taking advantage of daylight allows us to save a large amount of electrical energy. If the blinds are automatic, they can be programmed to raise themselves at a certain time of day, but also to lower when no one is home so that no more heat than necessary enters.

To take advantage of solar radiation, it is important to be able to regulate the entry of the sun, and if this is done automatically using light and temperature sensors, we will avoid wasting energy we do not need.

The regulation of the tilt and opening of blinds must be programmed according to each family’s lifestyle, and in many cases the ideal is to work with automatic sensors to maintain a stable interior temperature.

A family in which one or more members work from home is not the same as a family that leaves in the morning and does not return until late at night. In the second case, automation will be more necessary since there is no one monitoring light and interior temperature throughout the day when it is most important to manage the entry of solar heat.

3. Interactive Showers

The shower is one of the times of day when the most water is consumed.

In the eco-friendly homes of the future, it is proposed to connect this consumption to the mobile phone through an application. In this way, we become aware of the liters of water we use each time and can reduce it when not necessary.

For the more technologically inclined, showers now come equipped with different scenarios for power, lighting, and temperature. For example, the first shower in the morning should be quick and at a cool temperature to wake us up, but a weekend shower or bath can vary in duration and temperature, incorporate massage systems, and even entertainment media such as music or videos.

All of this will be programmable and controllable via mobile or electronic panel that also detects each user and calculates monthly consumption averages.

4. Thermostatic Tap

In addition to knowing water consumption, it is also important not to spend more energy than necessary to heat the water.

Today we find that many taps do not have a medium temperature and go from one extreme to the other. This ends up resulting in higher energy consumption that heats the water above what is necessary. If we manage to heat the water to the exact temperature, we can achieve significant savings in our consumption and our bill.

Therefore, second-generation thermostats are arriving that manage to stabilize the water temperature to the exact temperature before dripping begins.

In addition, taps come equipped with a filtration system. Water for consumption is not the same as water for cooking or water we use for showering or irrigation. Therefore, water collection systems are included so that it can be reused in the home itself after a filtration process that can be carried out one or more times.

If we combine this with rainwater collection, we can live in a house disconnected from the water network.

5. Monitored Irrigation

Currently, drip irrigation is already being implemented in many places, a system that achieves significant water savings. But this method does not stop watering plants because it is raining.

In the eco-friendly homes of the future, it is proposed to monitor plants so that the system knows at all times the water needs of each plant or each area of the garden. In this way, plants will be watered automatically only when they need water.

The automated irrigation system is of course combined with water harvesting systems, so irrigation water always comes from rainwater collected through the roofs of our eco-friendly home or from filtered water that has been used for showering after the removal of organic residues and soap.

6. Refrigerator with Online Connection

The refrigerators we will find in the eco-friendly homes of the future are already being used in the testing phase. The first thing worth highlighting is their efficiency. We are increasingly aware of the energy ratings given to appliances and how important it is to reduce energy consumption in homes.

But refrigerators will not only be more efficient but will also keep track of the products they contain and their condition. Of course, this will provide advantages when shopping, since the refrigerator itself maintains control of products and our daily eating habits. With this, it connects to the mobile and makes shopping list proposals that we can either carry out ourselves or the application itself will take care of ordering online.

7. Photovoltaic Panels and Domestic Battery

Now we move to a somewhat larger scale. It is no longer just about saving energy, but about producing it in the home itself. Photovoltaic panels will surely be the main energy source of the eco-friendly homes of the future.

In Spain we have many sunny days throughout the year and we do not get all the performance we could. In the eco-friendly homes of the future, the installation of photovoltaic panels is proposed to supply ourselves with electrical energy.

If we add a domestic battery to this, such as Tesla batteries, the home will be able to store the electricity produced in the panels to use it at night or at times when there is no sun.

Having enough photovoltaic panels and a domestic battery allows a house to be self-sufficient and not have to connect to the electrical grid. This, of course, implies significant economic savings but also energy savings.

8. Second-Generation Thermostats

The thermostat will be another key element of the eco-friendly homes of the future since with its correct use we can save a large amount of energy.

It will be possible to control the temperature of a home from anywhere, whether from work or from where we do our shopping. We can lower it when the house is empty or turn it on before arriving home. In addition, it is possible to monitor the presence of people in each room using sensors to connect or disconnect temperature control systems, whether passive (blinds or windows) or active (radiators).

Along with greater control over the thermostat, climate control systems will also be more efficient and temperature control more effective and precise. All of this will translate into lower energy consumption and greater well-being for us.

9. Home Automation on Mobile

Finally, although it is not part of the home itself, the mobile phone will be an essential part of the eco-friendly homes of the future.

Who has not already purchased online through their mobile? Although in the field of housing it is not yet so widespread, the use of mobile seems to be gaining more and more strength for controlling all the systems in our home, from the security system to heating and in the future, the refrigerator or other appliances. Everything is controlled remotely immediately wherever we are.

The system will include all aspects of the house that are mechanized such as blinds, thermostat, irrigation systems, lighting, and can even open or close windows from anywhere.

Most likely there will be a panel installed in the home from which we can also control all these aspects and the mobile will be used when outside the home.