Building the home of the future: three things you need to know
In these uncertain times, we need to consider extreme weather and changing climate patterns when designing a home. We now live in a world where a better future is a remote possibility, and so we turn to our private spaces for peace and comfort. And if we want to build a home that will give us the peace of mind we need, we need to anticipate tomorrow’s challenges.
Building greener and more resilient homes can help mitigate some of the effects of climate change. With the right construction techniques, a green home can be as affordable as a regular home, if not cheaper. And if you take the lower energy costs and improved durability into consideration, you’ll find that a green home is cheaper to run and maintain.
While no one can say for certain what the world will look like in twenty or thirty years, events that are happening today can provide a taste of the issues we might face in the future. What those challenges are will differ from place to place, but our concerns are all the same. Even if you have flood insurance, we want to live in a house that will survive in the coming decades. And we can use what we know to design smarter, stronger, and more resilient homes.
Safeguarding your new home from modern threats
Here are a few tips that will help you build a home that can safeguard you from 21st-century threats.
What we do today will have a great impact on our lives in the future. If we do nothing, our current trajectory will remain unchanged and more people will suffer. With the threat of a climate catastrophe on the horizon, designing a more energy-efficient home is a moral imperative.
Our design and construction choices should reflect our desire for a safer and cleaner world. For starters, choose sustainably sourced natural materials such as wood for the main structure. A carbon-neutral home has a smaller footprint and consumes less energy.
For your bathroom and kitchen, it pays to use water-saving sinks and toilets. Make sure to use energy-efficient appliances and electronics for everything else. Investing in smart home technology also allows you to reduce your energy use further and get more functionality out of your home.
Finally, installing solar panels reduces your reliance on the power grid for energy. You can store the energy in battery packs for use at night when electricity rates tend to be higher.
If you’re really serious about future-proofing your home, its design should revolve around sustainability and longevity. More and more homeowners are choosing to stay put for their lives, instead of selling and moving homes every few years. With that in mind, you need to plan ahead to ensure your home is still livable in your retirement years.
Accommodation for changes over time
When we talk about future-proofing, we mean thinking of ways to make the home more adaptable to accommodate changes down the line. For instance, older adults and people with disabilities require handrails, wheelchair ramps, and slip-resistant floors to make their homes safer and more convenient. You might want to invest in quality-of-life improvements such as hands-free doors and higher power sockets.
The world has undergone a radical transformation in such a short time, and many of our usual habits have been upended in favor of new ones. Even today’s homes aren’t built to accommodate our new habits, which is why we need to leave room for the future.
Homes have become more central to our lives in recent months. With the rise in telecommuting and remote work, we’re spending more time than ever at home. For some people, their homes also double as their place of work. And with the fear of disease driving more people to stay in place, we need to design homes that help mitigate our new anxieties.
Homes built in the future will likely feature multifunctional spaces and quality-of-life improvements. For instance, we could see a rise in demand for naturally antimicrobial materials such as copper.
The bottom line when building a new home
Understanding your needs and anticipating future challenges will help you build a more resilient and sustainable home. As we enter a new age of uncertainty, we need all the support we can get, and a stronger home will give us the peace of mind that is in short supply these days.
Jake Leonard, a broadcast media and journalism veteran, is the editor-in-chief of Heartland Newsfeed. Leonard is also GM and program director of Heartland Newsfeed Radio Network, wrestling editor and contributing writer for Ambush Sports, a contributing writer for My Sports Vote and Midwest Sports Network, and a former contributor to Bleacher Report and Overtime Heroics. He resides at home in Nokomis, Ill. with his dog Buster.
