Tom Gocze, a home improvement writer and energy expert has said that by the year 2030 he predicts most of us won’t be using oil, gas or wood to heat our homes. Gocze’s predictions are based on information from a variety of sources.
In an article for the Bangor Daily News, Gocze cited heat pump technology as one way that future homes will be heated. ‘Heat pump’ technology stores heat from the hot Summer months, making a house cooler during June, July and August and then they allow that heat to be used to keep a home warm over Winter. He suggested the electrical power needed for a heat pump would come from ‘photovoltaics‘ a system of solar panels on the roof of a house or apartment building which turn the energy from the sun in to electricity.
Gocze also said there would be an increase in popularity over the coming years, for ‘super insulation’ saying that all new builds will be super insulated to help keep warmth in during the Winter months and he says thicker windows will be created to help increase the retention of heat. He says such windows could be programmed to open or close at different times of the day or when the outside temperature varies in order to ‘air out’ a home without cooling it too much.
The third technology on Gocze’s list of predictions for future home heating is solar space-heating. This is a tactic used to heat many green home builds in the US. The heat which the solar panels collect can be stored in the walls of a house using a method called ‘thermal mass storage.’ Gocze also predicts that people will live in smaller homes which better reflect their needs and a smaller home is easier to heat than a larger one. He also says these changes could occur because of Government pressure, or even due to climate change which is currently the main reason people consider alternative ways to heat their home, rather than using the national grid.
