Things have changed over the years, so it’s crazy to imagine
what the future holds. With this post we are going forward 50 years. To set the
scene, the “millennial generation” is about 75 years old. What will the average
home be like? Let’s take a look at the future with the HGTV Smart Home 2014
construction project.
Planned Communities
What will local neighborhoods look like? Things will be more
compact and closer together. Forget driving miles to a grocery store. People
will want a walkable lifestyle with style and class. We are talking about
nearby parks, bodegas and entertainment venues. Due to population growth we’re
also looking at extremely compact houses with multifunction rooms such as a
single room functioning as a living room, dining room and kitchen.
Water-Top Homes
We’re going to be more water-friendly. Rising water levels
and massive coastal storms may change our methods of building along the shore,
architect Maureen Guttman of the Alliance to Save Energy told HGTV. She’s
picturing houses being built on floating barges that can easily be relocated
out of harm’s way when hurricanes and other natural disasters come near.
Building Materials
Forget 2x4s and stucco. That’s old school. We’re looking at
a material similar to concrete but more complex. It could be manufactured on location
using a big 3D computer printer, physicist Max Sherman told HGTV. Sherman leads
the Energy Performance in Buildings Group at the Lawrence Berkley National
Laboratory. He expects that this substance will be able to actually change
itself from a super-insulating and draft-blocking to a breathable and
free-flowing one, depending on the conditions inside and outside. That’s crazy!
Self-Sufficiency
Solar energy will be more widely used. “The solar energy
that hits the earth in one hour is enough to power all of humanity's energy
needs for a year,” Mark LaLiberte of Construction Instruction, a building
efficiency and technology consultancy, told HTGD. “We just don’t know how best
to capture it yet.” In 50 years we’ll have grids that get the most sun to
create power. New technologies and global food shortages will make backyard gardening
more prevalent. Why buy expensive tomatoes when you can grow them yourself?
Heating and Cooling
We can thank the concrete hybrid material to effectively heat the home, so houses may need only tiny heating systems to maintain comfortable indoor temperatures. Cooling methods will still be necessary on those hot days because the insulation simply won’t be able to completely keep the temperature down. We aren’t talking your typical heater or air conditioning systems either. Physicist Max Sherman predicts that cooling and heating will be provided by the walls themselves such as the weird new concrete-like material or even the paint on its surface.
Appliances
Bob Martin, who is the director of industrial design at
Electrolux Major Appliance, predicts the end of dishwashers. “New surface
technologies will mean dishes and cookware hardly need any cleaning at all,” Martin
said. At the same time we will have little robots to tidy the house; they can
identify soil as soonas it appears on any surface then will quickly clean it.
Your usual gas or electric stovetop will be a thing of the past. Kitchen
countertops will use induction technology to boil water in seconds and ovens
will cook food perfectly without any human intervention. Sounds easy!
Technology changes daily. Our magical iPhone 5s will be
ancient relics compared to the iPhone 14 which will be able to teleport you
from place to place. Okay, well maybe not quite yet. But the changes are
coming. Stay ahead of the curve and install those solar systems sooner rather
than later.
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