SUSTAINABILITY
eHome2 at the Energy House 2.0
WATCH NOW
Through this partnership , and by having academics live in Zed House for short periods of time , the smart technology and the performance of the house could be tested . This helped to inform the project ’ s next phase .
Through an expansive network of integrated sensors , data was collected regarding indoor air quality , thermal comfort , heating and renewable regeneration , to name a few .
“ We had 95 sensors and about one kilometre of wiring all around the home to monitor how that home performed . We were building a home of the future , through new technologies , but we wanted to understand what it would be like to live in ,” Novakovic explains .
“ That was a really big part of the project – firstly , do these technologies work on their own ? But then , more importantly , do they work in combination ?”
OLIVER NOVAKOVIC TECHNICAL & INNOVATION DIRECTOR , BARRATT DEVELOPMENTS
The same approach was then deployed in the eHome2 project which was delivered in partnership with Saint Gobain . But , whereas Zed House was built outside on the grounds of the university , for this next instalment of the project , the house was built in a state of the art , climate-controlled warehouse .
“ So we can literally make it snow , rain , generate heavy winds , and go from minus 20 to plus 40 ° C .”
This means that Barratt can test the home in the kinds of summers and winters that we might see in 2050 or 2100 , and implement future-proof solutions , which homeowners can use comfortably .
58 March 2023