Building green homes has become one of the biggest trends of the time and for a good reason. Building a green home has a number of benefits to your health, your finances, and your overall impact on the world around you. If you’re interested in green building, you may have already looked at some of the top megatrends in the industry. If you haven’t, here’s your chance to learn about ten of the megatrends green building experts expect to see continue far into the future.
Flexible Spaces
Conventional homes often have formal living rooms or dining rooms that simply don’t get used that often. Modern, green homes eliminate these extra spaces and replace them with flexible areas that can serve as a living room, exercise room, home office, or whatever you need. This flexibility reduces the overall size of the house, creating a space that uses less and, since it’s smaller than traditional homes, also tends to cost less.
Energy Efficient Options
No one wants to use more energy than they need to. Even if you haven’t embraced green living, it just makes financial sense to add in some of these options. Green homes have always focused on energy efficiency, but experts predict that this will become an even bigger trend in the future. Even commercial buildings and other structures, including schools, hospitals, and government buildings, will become more energy efficient and eco-friendly.
The Grid Isn’t Necessary
Many people like the idea of being off the grid or requiring no electricity from a provider. While that’s not always possible, being off the grid or achieving zero-net-energy is a goal many people have. The concept of zero-net-energy means that the building is capable of generating as much power as it uses in a year. As a megatrend, the idea of being off the grid has grown over the past ten years, and it’s only going to become more popular as the costs of installing energy-producing technology become more and more affordable.
More Focus Will Be Put on Health
Those who live and work in buildings with higher air quality have been shown to be happier and get more done. That’s why many builders are now looking at the overall health of those who will be in the buildings they’re working on, regardless of what type of building it is. One significant megatrend that has recently emerged is looking at how sustainable homes and offices can also provide increased wellness and quality of living. This trend is going to continue well into the future.
Conserving Water Is a Must
Conserving water is another trend that is both eco-friendly and reduces the costs of living. Builders have looked at everything from minimizing the amount of water needed during construction to reducing how much water is used in a building or home on a daily basis. This trend has encompassed a number of different ideas, including low-flow toilets, ways of using rainwater, and how adaptive vegetation can help conserve water. As the country faces more droughts, water conservation is going to become even more important.
Homes Will Be Disaster-Resistant
Homes and other buildings not only have to become less water-dependent to combat droughts, but they also must be more resilient in the face of any disaster. Wildfires, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and other natural disasters have become more and more frequent and dangerous. Builders must keep these disasters in mind and find solutions that are both resilient and sustainable. Doing so will lower the overall impact on the environment while also making homes stronger and more durable.
Solar Panels Make a Comeback
When solar panels were first introduced decades ago, many people were very excited about the technology. Unfortunately, at the time, solar panels were heavy, very bulky, and simply not very efficient. Today’s technology is much lighter and smaller while generating more power. Solar panels are becoming trendy again. Builders are now designing structures with an eye towards optimum solar panel placement, making it easier to achieve the goal of zero-net-energy while significantly reducing utility costs.
Builders Want to Be Green
This megatrend has less to do with how builders are building homes and more with why they’re going green. Many construction companies have begun embracing green building techniques because it’s what customers want. Many also want to reduce their overall footprint on the environment, even if their customers aren’t as concerned with being green. Builders who focus on green design, wellness, and creating eco-friendly homes and commercial buildings will become more in demand in the future.
Big Data Will Impact Green Building
Big data is usually a term heard in marketing, sales, and other settings, not in the construction business. However, big data does have a use in building. By gathering analyzing data, builders can look at how previous constructions are functioning. They can look at energy efficiency to determine what processes are working and where they need to make changes, improving future builds. This is definitely something more and more construction companies will be doing in the future, especially as the technology to do so becomes more accessible.
Smart Technology Will Be Commonplace
Speaking of technology, the smart home trend is only going to get bigger. Many homeowners are already bringing smart thermostats, appliances, and other devices into their homes, but going forward, expect to see these items built into homes from the beginning. They not only allow the homeowner and builder to monitor how energy-efficient the home is, they also allow the home’s AI to learn routines and make the home more comfortable without using large amounts of energy.
If you’re building a green home, consider these megatrends and which ones you want to see your builders make use of. You might be surprised to find that your construction company is already planning on creating an amazingly green home for you.
