Energy-sufficient Homes for Sale

"Smart" homes that will be virtually self-sufficient in energy are to be made commercially available in Barcelona and Paris next year.

As well as tried and tested technologies such as wind turbines and solar panels, the homes will use energy management systems that can, for example, use sensors to work out where people are in a house and adjust heating and lighting accordingly.

The project will be coordinated by the Smart Energy Home consortium, a collaboration of university researchers, chemical companies and construction companies. The group also has plans to build smart homes in Warsaw and Berlin, and a UK project is being discussed.

Rudiger Iden of BASF, one of the companies in the consortium, outlined the plans at the Euroscience Open Forum in Barcelona on Sunday. In Paris there will be an apartment block containing 200 dwellings, and in Barcelona about 40 flats.

Among the more advanced ideas, the buildings will use phase-change materials to even out temperatures. These wax-like materials are embedded in the walls, storing heat when temperatures are high by melting, and releasing the trapped heat back into the house when external temperatures drop.

The first phase of the project will renovate older apartment blocks.