What will the homes of the future look like? Will they have voice-controlled nifty appliances? A robot maid like “The Jetsons”?
Honda has a very smart — and very innovative — idea for the house of tomorrow that’s not quite on the level of George Jetson and his space-aged brood, but it’s exactly the direction American home-building needs if we’re going to slash our enormous, and unsustainable, energy consumption.
The carmaker built an experimental 2,000 square-foot Honda Smart Home on the University of California, Davis campus. Currently, a UC Davis employee is living in it, and for the next three years, the employee will monitor the power usage to see if the house is practical for the average American.
MORE: Tricked Out Zero-Energy Homes Aren’t Just for the Rich and Famous
What’s so amazing is that the home draws power from renewable sources, such as solar panels. As Fast Company puts it, the residence is so energy efficient that it pumps out more power than it uses — which means a homeowner could potentially sell energy to the power company. According to this infographic, the average home uses up 13.3 megawatt hours annually, whereas the Honda Smart Home puts back 2.6 megawatt hours on the grid. The home surpasses California’s 2020 target for zero net energy residential homes.
And wave bye-bye to air conditioning and heating bills with the geothermal heating and cooling (who isn’t interested in cheaper electric bills?). The Honda home slashes water consumption to a one-third of most American homes, and cuts more than 11 tons of CO2 annually compared to conventional homes and cars. And because Honda is behind it all, there’s garage space for a Honda Fit electric vehicle that gets charged from the house’s solar power (check out the video below).
This house may not have as many bells and whistles as the sci-fi cartoon, but if we want to reduce our reliance on planet-harming fossil fuels, Honda’s house of the future might be the kind we should be living in today.
Tag: net-zero
Tricked Out Zero-Energy Homes Aren’t Just for the Rich and Famous
When you think of modern homes with solar panels and award-winning green designers, you probably imagine they’d be constructed somewhere in Beverly Hills or Malibu. But three net-zero energy homes have been built in a Los Angeles zip code you probably wouldn’t imagine — South Central, a notoriously disadvantaged area in the city.
As Jetson Green reports, notable green design studio Minarc, Habitat for Humanity, and the non-profit Restore Neighborhoods LA (RNLA) have built three modern and environmentally friendly homes in one of the poorest neighborhoods of LA. These prefabricated homes take up much less time, money and manpower to assemble thanks to Minarc’s interlocking panel system, called mnmMOD. In fact, these 3-bedroom homes — with sizes around 1,200 to 1,375 square feet — were erected in three short days, when traditional construction for homes this size would take around two weeks.
According to a property listing, these homes are completely net-zero, as the energy that they consume are offset by solar panels and a thermal wall system. The homes also feature a drought tolerant landscape, vegetable gardens, sustainable bamboo floors and other green features.
MORE: Will This Be the Largest Energy-Free Building in the World?
The three homes are expected to sell between $300,000 to $325,000 (which is relatively cheap for a new home in Los Angeles). But not just anyone can swoop up these properties. According to Jetson Green, a potential buyer’s income has to be below 120 percent of the area median income for the Los Angeles metropolitan area. They also have to go through a home buyer education program in advance.
When 6.5 million low-income families spend more than 50 percent of their incomes on housing and utility costs, sustainable solutions are necessary to help keep roofs over heads. As John Perfitt, executive director of RNLA explained to Dwell.com, “We think that good design and new construction methods can, over time, have a very positive influence on restoring neighborhoods.” When it comes to sustainable homes, you don’t need a lot of green be green.
This Small California Community Might Just Solve America’s Energy Problems
The West Village at California’s UC Davis campus may soon become the nation’s largest planned community to achieve zero net energy consumption. The project, which organizers say will eventually house 3,000 students, 500 faculty and their families, as well as retail and commercial buildings, is 87% of the way to zero energy consumption, and expects to reach its goal by 2015. An added bonus for Mother Earth: The West Village produces zero carbon emissions.