Sun Shining on Home of the Future

In its second season, Curbed's "Home of the Future" series covers the development of a prefabricated home in Austin, Texas, outfitted with green, sustainable, and tech-friendly features. 

In the latest episode, the Home of the Future team sets up sustainable energy sources for the home via solar panels attached to the roof of the carport, "functioning as structure and power source while showing passersby how sustainability can be built right into a home," using a setup from Austin-based Lighthouse Solar that produces enough energy to power about 60 percent of Curbed's home, while unused energy is stored for later use in a lithium-ion battery. 

Home construction today increasingly embraces sustainability from the get-go—California will require solar panels on all new homes by 2020. So, of course, our Home of the Future had to follow suit. After last week’s episode, we had an efficiently built two-bedroom prefab shell of a house to work with. Now we have to think about how to power it sustainably with the most innovative technologies available right now.

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