If you find yourself talking to your appliances soon, don't be surprised. Our homes are getting smarter every day. Here are a few advances that sounded like science fiction a couple of years ago, but are not too far off or are here already - in fact, some of them are even being adopted by Lower Mainland developers in their latest homes.
Tricorder Tech
Kitchen heavyweight Miele recently wowed consumers at the London Design Festival with a prototype kitchen panel that scans your hand and gives an instant readout on your vitals including body fat ratio, heart rate, cholesterol level, and whether you should put that last piece of leftover pizza back because you've already maxed out your carbohydrate/protein intake for the day.
One frontrunner designer even suggested that holographs of your favourite celebrity chef creating tasty, healthy dishes from ingredients you have on hand will soon be just a touchpad away.
And how about toilets that could check for pregnancy, diabetes or drug usage via on-the-spot urine analysis and then give the results with audio read-out for your perusal while you brush your teeth? Mirror, mirror on the wall
Keeping Cozy
Eric Andreasen, Adera's vice president of marketing and sales, says he's also keeping close watch on the next generation of intelligent thermostats. While they may not actually talk, they "learn" their homeowner habits.
"Imagine your home not only knowing precisely when to turn the heat up so it's at your preferred temperature when you arrive home after work, but knowing you have a late meeting every Thursday and your weekend schedule includes late brunch. I believe features like this are the way of the future."
Or even sooner. Thermostat maker Honeywell has just introduced the Lyric, which, among other things, coordinates temperature with the locations of the multiple phones of the residents, so it can save heat when no one's home. Honeywell will be introducing more smartphone-controlled products that use the Lyric platform.
Digital Tsunami
For Marilyn Sanford of Connected Spaces, a robust, hardwired network connecting discreet, strategically placed wireless interfaces is still a fundamental component of the truly tech-savvy home. "The demands we make on our homes are increasing exponentially: gaming, high-def television, streaming video. You need bandwidth lots of it to accommodate the sheer volume of data that flows through the average home." This cabled backbone is the only way to ensure that important connectivity with the myriad smartphone, iPad, or other mobile devices is there when home owners need it which is 24/7.
At the Midtown low-rise condo complex in Mount Pleasant, developer PortLiving has added bazinga!, a social network and utility for condo buildings that keeps owners connected with their neighbours, property manager and developer, and helps organize all their home essentials like warranties and appliance manuals.
It's a Green, Green World
Going green is also interwoven with advancing technology. What started with motion-activated lighting and EnergyStar appliances has become a construction philosophy. And savvy multifamily developers like Adera and Cressey are stepping up to the plate in a big way.
Often, the greenest features are ones you can't even see. In North Vancouver, Adera's seven35 development was the first private residential building in North America to incorporate a system-wide, wastewater heat recovery system just one of the dozens of über-green features that contributed to seven35's multiple environmental stewardship awards.
Andreasen says the trendsetting system saves owners up to 75 per cent on the cost of preheating their domestic water by recovering heat from wastewater that traditionally goes down the drain like the shower or laundry through a complex heat exchange process that requires two totally separated sets of water lines.
Then there's air quality, because living in urban environments means paying attention to your home's interior health. Cadence, Cressey's newest condominium tower in Richmond, includes as standard occupational-grade air filters that cleanse air to an astonishing 98 percent purity, and integrated, non-electric water filtration systems. Meanwhile, a state-of-the-art heat recovery ventilation system (HRV) draws outside air directly into each suite and warms it up using a counterflow heat exchanger between the inbound and outbound airflow.
Green, smart, healthy... all facets of smart home technology.
