Consumer Articles

New American Homes in 2025 Will be More Environmentally Friendly

Few home buyers know that in these environmentally conscious times, a typical residence built today is considerably more “green” than the most energy efficient home of a decade ago. And the home of 2025 could push these trends further. Within a generation, homes, apartments, condominiums and townhouses could become energy self-sufficient or “zero energy” green building residences.

Green building is more than just energy efficiency; it also incorporates resource efficiency and environmental stewardship. Builders are learning to reduce and reuse job site scrap and waste, to recycle building materials from houses and other buildings that are being razed, to design and build an advanced energy- and environmentally-efficient building, to use building products containing recycled materials, and to take advantage of solar technologies.

Outwardly, the residences of 2025 may look like the homes of today, but they will not perform the same. Not only will they continue to provide comfort, secure shelter and privacy, they will also serve as a centralized hub for organizing continuing education, health maintenance, fitness, communications, entertainment, and work productivity. In addition to these added features, these homes will perform better. They will be more durable and require less maintenance and repair. Water and energy efficiency will be optimized through the use of sophisticated controls. In fact, homes are expected to be able to diagnose their own product and system failures prior to a breakdown and alert service professionals to schedule timely preventative repairs. Many of these repairs to appliances and other computerized equipment will be performed remotely through the Internet, and the owner will not even be aware that a repair has been made.

The residence of 2025 should be a net energy producer, not a consumer. Through the use of advanced conservation techniques and energy efficient appliances like fuel cells, the building’s energy use will be kept to a minimum, while photovoltaic roofing and mini-turbines will supply power to the house and could even produce excess power for sale to utility companies operations.

The way homes are constructed will also change significantly over the next 25 years. Industrialized housing and components will become even more commonplace than they are today, and technical innovations will allow construction that uses only the materials necessary without the waste often seen on construction sites.

With concerns over water and wastewater throughout the country and the world, expect homes to use little to no net water in the future and to virtually eliminate the need for waste water treatment. Homes will recycle water back through the home for multiple uses. In fact, waste water treatment systems can already produce effluent that is drinking water quality.

Finally, the information explosion will continue to have a significant impact on how we build. Commuting patterns could change because the home office will be indistinguishable from the work environment in many sectors of the economy. E commerce will create a better environment when we can use our home to place orders instead of going out, or when our smart homes can arrange deliveries so that delivery companies can reduce needless trips.

With all of these innovations it’s safe to say the house of the future will be built greener, better, with more energy efficiency and high tech features. For home buyers in the year 2025, this is news to look forward to.