What makes a ‘smart home’? Paul Dowsett and his team at Sustainable.To are dedicate to creating affordable, healthy and energy efficient homes, because that’s what Paul believes is ‘the right thing to do’. I think that a pretty good definition for a ‘smart home’. And the best way to achieve it? Keep it simple.

Simple is the New Smart Home

One of the main benefits of keeping things simple, is cost. Sure, you can add stuff (‘smarts’) to make a housing ‘greener’. But solar panels and compost bins can become green bling if you don’t have the fundamentals right.

Sustainable.To Passive solar eco home
What makes this house different from it’s neighbours? A lot, starting with it’s power bill.

The Value of Modelling

Kelsey Saunders is a building scientist. She’s a valuable part of the Sustainable.To team because she can model their designs to make sure they’re going to perform well in those key area of health and energy efficiency. If the designers can achieve this with a relatively simple design, then the affordability will start to take care of itself.


Comments

2 responses to “153: Simple is the New Smart Home”

  1. To the guest… your characterization of a man’s role in the decision making process as “moneybags,” the financial decision maker is way off point. I take offense at the implication that in any good family decision a man is more capable than a woman at making a sound financial decision, which was your implicit assertion in your statement.

    Furthermore, you went on to say that “when all else fails, we turn away from him and we turn to her start talking about health.” Are you actually implying that your company policy is to leverage your female clients against their male counterparts because you believe they care for their children’s health more?

    1. Matthew Cutler-Welsh Avatar
      Matthew Cutler-Welsh

      Good points. Have to be careful with generalisations.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *