How to Upgrade Your Home for The 21st Century

The home of the 21^st century is smart. It’s smartly designed using nature, and it takes advantage of the latest technology. Combined, your home can run for far less while simultaneously allowing you to lead an easier life. The best part is that adding technology to your home doesn’t even have to take you further away from nature or that essential connection to the outdoors. Instead, they can work seamlessly together for the ultimate experience, so long as you use this guide to help inform your design choices.

Tech Upgrades for Your Home

Most homes aren’t smart, and it’s about time that we change that. Smart homes are the future. They’re how we’ll get more done at home in less time (and effort) and also how we’ll start using less energy overall. To make your home smart, you’ll need:

Fast, Reliable Internet

Forget cable. Forget landlines. All you need is fast, reliable internet. Fiber optics, in particular, can give you incredible speeds for both uploading and downloading content. Just imagine what you could do with 1gbps speeds. You can get better streaming with fiber optic internet, immediately download content in seconds, and upload anything – making video calls and game streaming a walk in the park.

·       Smart Home System

With that fast internet, you’ll finally be able to get started with designing your own smart home system. There are many different ways to do this, but for most, you’ll want to start with a voice-powered assistant. These assistants can connect to other products like smart plugs or light bulbs, giving you voice control over several systems in your home. With an ultimate home system, you can have your coffee made for you when your alarm goes off and have all the heating/cooling and lights turned off the second you leave to go to work. Together, you can enjoy a better quality of life for less.

Design Upgrades for Your Home

While you can absolutely use technology to help perfectly moderate your home, this costs. Every second and watt of energy costs money, and with the energy sector as a whole going through a rather tumultuous time between political upheaval and the worsening climate crisis, it’s more important than ever to reduce our reliance on energy – at least for our heating and cooling. That’s why, on top of making your home faster and smarter, you’ll also want to use these tips:

·       Use Plants to Reduce HVAC Reliance

Trees that shade your roof are going to cut down immensely on your cooling bills. Planting evergreen bushes along your exterior walls can also help cut down on heating costs by buffering cold winds. Landscaping will not only increase the value of your home, but it will also help you save overall on your energy bills.

·       Use Brickwork or Lattices to Direct Wind

To further cool your home, use interspersed brickwork or lattices near your windows or patio area. These will force breezes through and acts as a natural fan to cool your home. This way, opening up all your windows will bring in more of a cross-breeze during summer.