House

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Solar Decathlon has wound up in Washington, D.C. with Team Germany taking the top honors, followed by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in second place, and Team California taking out third. As we reported last week the competition to design, build, and operate the most attractive and efficient solar-powered home saw 20 university-led teams from around the world competing in ten contests, ranging from subjective elements such as architecture, market viability, communications, lighting design, and engineering, to technical measurements of how well the homes provided energy for space heating and cooling, hot water, home entertainment, appliances, and net metering. Read More

Competition is underway in the Department of Energy’s (DoE) Solar Decathlon, in which 20 teams of college and university students compete to design, build, and operate the most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered house. The house designs entered in the competition not only capture heat and light from the sun, but also integrate design features to take advantage of cooling breezes and shading. By combining these proven energy efficient designs with the latest off-the-shelf technology, the teams aim to create homes that reduce utility bills and meet all their energy needs, while providing all the comforts of home. Read More

Ever since home automation systems were invented, manufacturers have been looking at ways to integrate the technology into the busiest room of the house – the kitchen. But apart from the original Internet fridge (with its frightening price tag and lack of functionality) useful products have been few and far between. Not to be deterred, Anvil Motion has created a kitchen where, by choosing say, the ‘baking’ scene on a touch panel remote control, the cupboard doors slide vertically to reveal the oven, the utensils, the ingredients and the recipe books … all in unison. Read More

When it comes to buying consumer electronics, we are factoring energy efficiency into our choices in a bid to cut our household energy consumption, a new study from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has found. Read More

For anyone who has wanted to get away from it all without leaving the comforts of home Dutch design group N55 has just the thing – a walking house. Consisting of a basic module measuring 3.5m high by 3.5m wide and 3.72m long the walking house can cover a decidedly leisurely 60m an hour on its six insect like legs. Read More

For skating lovers who heard the phrase ‘don’t you dare skate in the house’ one too many times as a kid, this might just be the dream home you’ve always wanted. The unique dwelling is described as having a ‘curved form interior’ (otherwise known as a ramp), but it's not just 'a house with a ramp in it'. Archivirus Architecture and Design's creation sets out to deliver a completely 'skatable habitat' for the client (which is not actually Tony Hawk -he has his half-pipe built in the backyard) with smooth concrete and curved spaces to enhance the idea of motion. Read More

Here’s a thought – the amount of time a domestic appliance like a television spends on standby over the course of a year actually costs more than the time it spends in use. To counteract this remarkable waste of money and energy comes a device called “100% Off” – a very switched on idea. Read More

It wasn’t surprising to see that power conservation was a prevalent theme for entries in this year’s core77 Greener Gadgets Design Competition – the first two places were taken by variations on household power meters. One of the entries that made it to the semi final stage that we thought warranted some kudos was the Inlet ‘Outlet’ - a concept that would see household electrical outlets accompanied by an electrical ‘inlet’ that would make it easy for householders to feed power back into the power grid. Read More

Black and Decker is giving homeowners a way to lock up their daughters when they aren’t even home. The company's new motorized locks are designed to complement the emerging electronic ‘smart homes’. They can be activated remotely and can even directly control home security and automation systems, and vice versa. Read More