Smart, green…and small: The homes of the future

Throughout the 20th century, there was a cultural obsession with the homes of the future and the technology that would power them. It now seems like we are closing in on that future, where the home is not just ‘smart’, but also green. OK, so we haven’t cracked teleportation and there’s a conspicuous lack of hover-boards out on the streets, but we are nevertheless on the verge of a new era of domestic technology.

There’s plenty of impressive stuff in our homes already. We can monitor electricity usage in real-time, and we can also get feedback about problems with plumbing. Devices like computers and TVs can now share data seamlessly, and we take automation of lighting and heating for granted. One area we’ve made less progress with is the amount of energy our homes use. This is perhaps the most urgent challenge as we design and build the homes of the future.

In the UK, green buildings remain scarce. The Government is addressing this, however, and aims for all newly-built homes need to be carbon-neutral by 2016. In the US, builders, architects, designers and manufacturers envisage that the average, newly-built detached home will be around 10% smaller by 2015 compared to those built in 2010. This will help to bring down energy consumption – both in terms of the construction of homes and the costs involved in running them.

Smaller homes might not sound very exciting, but there are other developments on the way too. Jonathan Cluts is the director of consumer prototyping and strategy at Microsoft. He believes that radio ID tags will be a central feature of the next generation of homes. This will allow your fridge to alert you when you’re running out of milk, for instance. It will also allow your kitchen counter to recognise appliances and ingredients, then suggest recipes to you. The kitchen often seems to be at the centre of technological developments – cordless induction-heating will enable surfaces such as coffee tables to defrost your food for you and will allow appliances like kettles to be powered wirelessly.

There’s always a fair amount of speculation involved when it comes to predicting how technology will develop. Nevertheless, it’s clear that 10 years from now a new house will be significantly smarter and greener than a house built today.

Mortgage brokers Manchester can help you get the perfect home today.