Future technology: The Houses Of The Future
How will the houses of the future be like?
The answer may seem trivial, but in this video we will discover that this is not exactly
the case.
Probably our homes will become energy self-sufficient and “intelligent” thanks to domotics.
But how can these two objectives be achieved?
As for energy self-sufficiency, passive houses have existed for several years.
The definition of passive house was coined in the early 90s by Wolfgang Feist's Passivhaus
Institute: to talk about a passive house, a building needs to consume no more than the
energy equivalent of 1.5 liters of Diesel oil per square meter for heating only.
Over the years it has become a standard and other design criteria and parameters have
been added regarding comfort: the useful energy requirement required for heating and cooling
must be less than 15 kWh per square meter in a year.
Born in Sweden in 1988, passive houses then spread mainly to Germany, Austria and Holland
and other Northern European countries and also to the United States, where there are
two versions of "passive house" promoted by two separate entities: the Passive House Institute
(PHI) and the Passive House Institute US (PHIUS).
PHIUS was originally an affiliate and approved trainer and certifier for the Passive House
Institute.
In 2011, PHI canceled its contract with PHIUS for misconduct.
PHIUS disputed PHI's claims and continued to work to launch an independent construction
performance program.
The construction of a passive house requires that you start from the foundations, with
the construction of a thermal coat, that is an insulating coating on the outside of the
building walls, so as to wrap it completely.
We then move on to the vertical elements of the passive house through the construction
of external light walls, typical of buildings with controlled consumption.
The internal temperature is kept constant thanks to forced mechanical ventilation devices:
a double system of pipes, with an outlet circuit and an inlet circuit.
The outgoing hot air (from the kitchen, bathroom and toilet) is conveyed to a flow exchanger,
where the incoming cold air receives 80-90% of the heat and re-routed inside (living room
and bedrooms.
bed).
The external air flow, before reaching the heat exchanger, in some buildings is conveyed
through a geothermal heat pump where it undergoes further heating.
The ventilation systems of passive houses are silent and highly efficient (from 75%
to 95% of the recovered heat) and require little electricity (about 40-50 Watts), but
they can cause the problem of too dry air.
In a passive house, the use of renewable energy sources is essential.
The solar panels allow you to heat the water for sanitary purposes while the mini wind
turbine allows the supply of electricity.
A solar thermal system can cover 40-60% of the entire low temperature heat requirement
of the passive house.
Tanks properly installed in the garden allow the recycling of rainwater where possible
(toilet, water for the garden and plants.).
Finally, the heating / cooling system chosen must be able to exploit these totally free
energy sources to ensure internal comfort in the hottest and coldest seasons.
Of course, passive houses do not have the same costs as a traditional house.
However, they are more affordable than they were a few years ago.
Those who want to build a passive house make a conscious and sustainable choice, knowing
that over time the initial expense is offset by the zero environmental impact of their
home.
Despite the higher cost, would you like to live in a passive house?
Let us know in the comments!
How to organize a 'passive house'?
Living room, office and children's room with room temperatures of 20 ° C should preferably
face south.
Warehouses, closets and verandas, which have temperatures between 14-16 ° C, can be arranged
towards north or east.
The bathroom should be conveniently placed in the interior of the house between heated
rooms.
A west or east position should be preferred for the kitchen.
The first Passivhaus certified house in the state of New York is Hudson Passive Project:
a house with simple shapes and materials designed by Barlis Wedlick Architects and built in
2010.
The compact volume minimizes heat loss, the materials chosen favor heat accumulation,
to the point that the only system installed is that of controlled mechanical ventilation
with heat recovery.
Everything in this passive house seems to lead back to one principle: keep it simple
(cit.).
A few simple elements with a design that is as modern and essential as it is evocative
and archetypal: walls dressed in local stone, a simple sloping roof in laminated wood and
a south facing facade open as much as possible to greedily take advantage of all the scarce
sunshine of the New York winters.
Although many modern and contemporary buildings have large windows facing south, the all too
frequent lack of a special heat storage element inside prevents them from fully exploiting
the direct solar gain received.
The architects of the Hudson Passive Project were able to overcome this common mistake:
the concrete floor (thanks to its high thermal capacity) functions as a thermal storage mass
that during the day "collects" the heat absorbed by solar radiation, and in the evening, when
it is most needed, it returns it to the rooms of the house.
Located on the north side, the main bedroom in its nature of private space contrasts with
the airy great room to the south, while squatting under the marvelous gothic ceiling two single
bedrooms and a study occupy the mezzanine.
The latter, directly overlooking the large hall below, benefits from a high amount of
natural daylight thanks to the skylights cut into the roof.
The only real plant that contributes to the high energy efficiency of the Hudson Passive
Project is not dedicated to the creation of energy, but to its recovery and control.
This is the MVHR (Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery) system, which raises the temperature
of the incoming external air by extracting thermal energy from the outgoing vitiated
air.
This guarantees, as we know, very high energy performance thanks to its ability to recover
heat by carrying out a constant air exchange at the same time and without dispersion, with
enormous benefits in terms of comfort and energy savings.
The other element that will surely be part of the houses of the future is domotics: this
word derives from the contraction of "domus" (from the Latin for house) and robotics, and
with it we mean a house inside which installed IoT (“Internet of Things”) devices - connected
to the internet - that allow remote monitoring and management.
These devices can perform different functions, ranging from lighting management to heating
control.
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Domotics guarantees safety, comfort, convenience and energy efficiency to homeowners: in fact,
the use of one or more 'smart' devices can also be done remotely through the numerous
smartphone apps.
The IoT, the various systems and devices for home automation work together, sharing usage
data and automating some of the basic actions: it is precisely on this principle that a large
number of 'basic' operations are saved and take place automatically.
The domotics automation system allows us to carry out various actions for the management
of the various building systems, completely automatically and according to the needs of
the various users.
The main application of a domotics system is in lighting, with the ability to control
switching off, switching on and adjusting the lights.
It is also possible to control the various current loads, thanks to the functions that
allow you to monitor them based on energy savings and blackout prevention.
Domotics finds applications in heating and thermoregulation, with the ability to adjust
the temperature in any part of the building, avoiding energy waste while keeping everything
under control from the smartphone.
Door automation is another interesting function of home automation, which allows you to automatically
open and close doors, curtains, gates, shutters and more.
For example, these can open automatically when we approach or move away from your home.
As far as safety is concerned, it is possible to install alarm systems, such as those that
detect flooding, the presence of smoke or gas leaks, which send reports directly to
the owner's smartphone, through notifications or text messages.
Video surveillance is included among the functions of domotics and allows you to monitor both
the interior and exterior of your home in real time.
Finally, it is possible to take advantage of the remote control of household appliances,
perhaps by activating certain functions or programming certain washing programs.
Even garden irrigation, with the option of automating it at the most convenient times,
also taking advantage of rain and humidity sensors.
These features can be activated using the various smart devices, which through smartphone
applications, such as Apple Home and Google Assistant, guarantee simultaneous use.
Domotics has managed to change and improve every aspect of our life: from turning on
light bulbs to programming dishwasher and so on.
Here is a list of some examples: • Smart TV: Modern televisions connect to
the Internet to access on-demand entertainment content.
You can install and access Amazon, Youtube, Netflix and many other applications.
Some models offer advanced features such as voice or gesture recognition.
• Intelligent lighting systems, can detect when one or more people are in a room, adjusting
the intensity of the various lights accordingly.
• Smart thermostats, just like those made by Nest, have a built-in Wi-Fi module, which
allows users to remotely program and monitor the temperatures in their home.
These devices' learn 'from the owners' habits and automatically change settings to offer
residents maximum comfort and efficiency.
Smart thermostats can also signal excessive energy consumption, reminding owners to change
filters and so on.
• Smart locks are the most modern devices of all those that refer to home automation:
they are generally installed in armored doors, thus facilitating access with your smartphone
or with a fingerprint.
• Security cameras: they are really very useful and there are different price ranges;
each product can in fact perform a series of different actions.
The cheapest ones are used to monitor children or pets, while the more advanced ones can
act as a surveillance system.
In case of unwanted guests, these devices are able to send notifications to the smartphone
and automatically call the competent authorities.
• Smart sprinklers: you can finally go on vacation and no longer worry about giving
water to your plants.
Modern sprinklers can be controlled from the smartphone, so just a click is enough to start
irrigation.
Do you feel enthusiast about domotics potential?
Let us know in the comments!
The main advantage of domotics recognized by those who have already made their home
'intelligent' is the fact that they can safely monitor the home at any time.
It is a particularly useful technology for the elderly, considering that it is possible
to control their state of health, but also because it is able to greatly facilitate many
essential actions.
Comfort is another feature of home automation, in fact you can get home and open the door
directly with your smartphone, with the home lighting that adapts to our actions and habits.
Another advantage to consider is certainly the great savings that you can enjoy, in fact
adopting a domotics installation in your home means significantly improving energy efficiency.
Obviously there are also negative aspects of home automation.
First of all, it is very easy for products from different brands to find it difficult
to communicate with each other and therefore fully perform the functionality.
Other articles, on the other hand, can be really complex both for management and for
configuration.
In fact, excessive system complexity can be defined as non-user friendly, as users who
are not used to using technologies may find themselves in difficulty, with the possibility
of creating further system problems.
Just think about what could happen if the anti-theft system is not managed correctly.
A problem highlighted regarding the security of domotics lies in the concerns of users
regarding the network that connects the devices of the 'smart house'.
The problem is magnified in cases where these systems are built by themselves without having
the right skills.
In the worst case, if a hacker attack was carried out against the home automation system,
it could take control of all the smart devices, with the possibility of tampering with the
alarm.
As a final disadvantage, we would like to mention the cost of acquiring the home automation
system, which can be particularly expensive if you intend to carry out a complete installation,
with numerous systems to be monitored.
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