A growing awareness that the earth’s resources are limited, that South Africa’s electricity costs will continue to rise exponentially and that it can be less expensive and more comfortable to live independent of state and municipal power supplies and services are pushing the ‘green’ revolution in South African homes ahead far faster than he – and many others – predicted, says Tony Clarke, Managing Director of the Rawson Property Group.
“We all expected sophisticated First World countries like the USA and Germany to develop and adopt the new home design and management technology very quickly,” said Clarke, “but it is now quite clear that a small body of entrepreneurs are advancing the green home computer controlled revolution in South Africa at a very rapid pace.”
The ‘smart’ homes of the next two decades, said Clarke, will be equipped with at least some of the following systems:
- Solar panels capable of generating electricity.
- Solar water heaters which, when positioned on roof tiles or other sun catchment areas, warm up circulating water through heat absorbent materials, in the process cutting the home’s hot water bills by some 60%.
- The almost standard use of low energy bulbs.
- Air source heat pumps which extract heat from the atmosphere (even on cold days) and circulate it within the home – a process said to be four times as efficient as traditional systems.
- Double glazed windows and doors which reduce heat and cold penetration by 60 to 70%.
- Heat sensitive glazing which darkens automatically if temperatures rise high but reverts to clear glass when temperatures are normal.
- Heat absorbent blinds and suntrap areas which give off warmth later in the day when the sun has moved around or disappeared.
- Hand cranked laundry machines which use less water (and no power at all) to clean a full load of washing in ten minutes.
- Central and localised monitors and thermostats which indicate when excessive use of electricity is becoming a problem and if programmed to do so cut down the electricity supplies. In the USA, said Clarke, such monitoring systems are now almost always supplied with air conditioning systems.
- Wind power electricity systems, which at present are used mainly to power batteries but in time will feed straight into the electrical network.
- Fresh rain water collection and grey water systems, the later using bath, shower and kitchen water for garden plants.
- Water and odour free toilets.
- Droplet sprinklers and irrigation systems which ensure limited water supplies in gardens and give priority to the most thirsty plants; and
- Filter plants placed in window boxes, balconies and roof tops to improve the quality of the air going into the home.
Coupled with the green revolution, said Clarke, is a new wave of IT systems that will make the average home less wasteful of energy, but improve the home’s performance. Such systems, he said, can be programmed to go into action automatically, e.g. at sunrise or sunset or to respond to key pads or voice commands from laptops and smart phones, which relay messages about the conditions in the home. Such systems are particularly useful when linked to security networks where they alert both the owner and the security company to any breach of the defences or other unfortunate incidents, e.g. a severe rise or drop in temperature in the home. These systems can also be linked to personal monitors to report regularly on the health and physical condition of members of the home owner’s family and can be linked to tracking devices to show where the owner’s children or motor vehicles are.
Systems of this kind, said Clarke, will make managing a home simpler, safer and more efficient. Doors and windows will be locked or opened automatically, blinds and curtains will be raised or lowered, lights turned on or off in response to certain prescribed conditions and the presence or absence of certain people.
Food prepared earlier can be cooked at specified temperatures for the right amount of time in order to be ready for the home owner’s arrival and gardens will be watered when and as necessary – and not if rain is forecast for the next 24 hours.
Certain important activities by young children such as bathing, hand washing or assisting with clean-ups can encouraged by the use of wall mounted video games.
Clarke stressed that the increasing sophistication of information technology, particularly cloud technology, makes it possible for home owners to access information on and control their homes from anywhere in the world.
Clarke commented, too, that although at present the South African public does not value this type of technology highly, the time will come when good systems of the kind described add greatly to the value of every home – for the simple reason that they will not only make it a great deal more pleasant to live in but will reduce energy costs in a way never seen before.
