Get Free Plans for Green, Energy Positive Home: Honda is Open Sourcing Full Plans for A Super Smart
When Honda gives out free plans for an energy positive, smart home of the future you know energy efficient green homes have gone mainstream. Hopefully this information will finally break the myth that living in a healthy home that powers itself is more expensive than living in a "regular" home. The Honda Smart Home is being called "experimental" but there's a real live version of it at the University of California, Davis so this is no pie in the sky theoretical experiment. It's the real thing from the EV charger in the garage to the solar panels on the roof.
Having on the ground experience helping clients build and renovate homes, I never believed healthy, non toxic homes that are carbon neutral need be more expensive than brown energy guzzlers. Having a trusted manufacturer like Honda come out and prove how realistic the technology has become is great green ammo. To make the point, Honda is giving away the details on how to do it. This sure helps make the green argument to the doubting Thomases of the world who still think it's too early to give up our chains to the fossil fueled past.
As Honda demonstrates in the video below, building a smart home is not just about being energy efficient, it's about designing a living system that connects all the dots and leaves no creative stone left unturned.
The Honda Smart Home has LED lighting, a ground source geothermal heat pump system that heats and cools the house, rainwater harvesting, and a grey water system. The home was built using low VOC materials and wood that is FSC certified.
The home also has a home energy management system which monitors, controls and optimizes electrical generation and consumption throughout it's own micro grid that has a 10kWh battery energy storage system in the garage. The energy storage system uses the same lithium-ion cells that are used in the Hondo Fit EV and allows stored solar energy to be used at night, when household demand typically peaks and electric vehicles are usually charged.
Honda stated in a news release: "Honda is publicly posting the building plans, architectural and mechanical drawings, furniture specs and materials associated with the project, including the raw 2D and 3D CAD data,” Honda said in a company release to NationSwell: “Our hope is that interested individuals across the world are able to use these plans as a starting point to create their very own sustainable homes.”
What's cool about the Smart House is that with a mass market company like Honda entering the green home market, it won't be long before homes like this aren't cutting edge cool but just standard operating procedure.
