Listen to this articleWhile it might amuse you to think of the home of the future as an architectural marvel, homes will probably look similar to homes now, except the technology within them will make them far more efficient. Not that stunning earth-sheltered homes that blend into a forest, geodesic domes that bulge out of mountainsides, and bubble-shaped homes floating on lakes won’t exist, but they will be anomalies.
One of the primary reasons homes of the future will probably not focus on architectural designs is because people will still want their homes to be cozy. Retro-homes will be popular because the emphasis will be less on form and more on function. Expect solar panels, 3D printing, the Internet of Things, and wireless living to be the new normal.
Solar Panels
Although solar power is not a new idea, it is not as widespread today as it should be when you consider how well it works compared to traditional electrical grids.
While many homeowners understand the value of reducing their carbon footprints, they are in the minority. Most homeowners are not yet up to speed on how human beings need to take better care of the environment.
Solar panels in sunny cities will be the norm, rather than the exception. Metropolitan cities like San Diego will all have eco-friendly homes and San Diego roofing companies that install solar panels will flourish.
Children in history classes will wonder why it took so long for solar power to be popular in the first two decades of the 21st century.
3D Printing
You won’t see construction workers wearing hardhats and tool belts crawling all over the framework of emerging houses. Instead, you’ll see gigantic machines printing out perfect homes.
However, this scenario will probably take some time to become a reality. The 3D printing industry for home building will probably start out slowly, perhaps as prefabricated homes that manufacturers transport to property sites. Only later will manufacturers print a home on location rather than transport walls or rooms and assemble them.
The Internet of Things (IoT)
After the Internet of Things (IoT) becomes mainstream, many devices will appear to have a life of their own, and you will think nothing of it.
Everything will connect and all your devices will talk to each other. They might even eavesdrop on your conversations to anticipate your needs. While it might be nice if your car calls home to warm or cool the house in anticipation of your arrival or for your oven to pre-warm because it overhears you talking to your spouse about baking pizza, there will be many social challenges that we must first overcome, such as national security agencies monitoring conversations and cybercriminals hijacking IoT devices to launch DDOS attacks.
We will see artificial intelligence as a fact of life. Robots may cook dinner, clean the house, and put the kids to bed. Coffee makers may turn on as soon as you get out of bed because your mattress will send it a go-ahead ping. Instead of turning knobs or flipping switches, you’ll be talking to your house to turn on lights and tweak thermostats.
Wireless Appliances and Fixtures
Tangled cords and outlets will go the way of rotary telephones, 8-track cartridge players, manual typewriters, taximeters, and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). Most of your home’s devices will run continuously, powered by Wi-Fi or self-charging batteries. Wireless routers, bridges, and repeaters will hide in the nooks and crannies of your home.
Is All This Realistic?
Future homes may be less about inventing unbelievable technology and more about using what we already have right now.
The reason it’s possible to project a reasonable fantasy of the home of the future is that many of the technological innovations used in futuristic homes already exist. They are just not as widely adopted as they could be. Although there will be even more sophisticated technology in the future, we have enough right now to make some educated guesses about the home of the future.
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