The Home of the Future
We look at the technology that will come in the next-generation of family homes
BUYING THE HOME OF THE FUTURE
Although there’s a lot you can do to your home to make it more energy efficient and environmentally friendly, if you want to live in a home with zero carbon emissions, you’ll have to buy a new one. Many builders are experimenting with low carbon emission homes, which are becoming more attractive to buyers for both environmental and economic reasons. One such builder is Miller Homes, and the company has recently completed a batch of low-carbon homes in Basingstoke.
The Miller Zero homes, as they’re called, total five plots on a small residential estate. Each home adheres to a different level of carbon neutral certification, with the Level 6 home achieving zero carbon emissions. Besides the obvious environmental advantages to a zero-carbon-emission home, there’s an added financial benefit, since a Level 6 new house attracts no stamp duty.
The Miller Zero homes use various energy-saving and -capturing technologies to reduce carbon emissions
So what does it take to build a zero-emission home? Quite a lot, it would appear. It starts with the materials used to build the house in the first place. Walls are thicker, with more insulation to ensure that barely any heat escapes into the outside world. In the same vein, every single window in the house is triple glazed, again ensuring that the heat inside the house stays there. An added bonus is that the triple glazing keeps all the outside noise where it belongs – outside.
The roof of the house is constructed with PV solar panels built into it. This will ensure that renewable energy is used to power the home at least some of the time. Miller aims for the majority of daytime electricity to be provided by the solar panels. There’s a smart meter installed, naturally, so the homeowners can make sure they’re using their power as efficiently as possible.
Renewable water usage is also high on the agenda, with a 2,000 litre water tank underneath the lawn. This collects rain water, which is then filtered and used by the washing machine and toilets, ensuring that clean, drinking water isn’t wasted. Other water-saving measures include lower overflows in baths and basins, and aerated taps which give the illusion of high water flow, but actually limit the amount of water used.