The House of the Future: Today and in 2025 (fingers crossed!)

© 2024 Mark McWiggins

What if your power never went out again?

My wife and I had sort of this experience in 2022–2023. We moved from a rural area South of Auburn WA where the power went out in the “dark months” (October to sometimes as late as July 13, but usually getting better by April … October and November can be particularly stormy in the region. My wife said she had 3 or 4 Thanksgiving power outages during her time here.

And … what if: (a) you had just a tiny power bill compared to the $300 or $700 max you have been paying in the hottest (or coldest, depending on where you live) and of course, the size of your house (or mansion!)

The components you can get today:

(a) Solar panels (free in Washington state to homeowners … check Sky Solar ads on YouTube.) Also comes with a free Tesla Powerwall. Pricing in other states varies so quickly I don’t want to speculate on that in this paper … check your local solar purveyor for pricing.

(b) Heat pump/Air conditioner for home, and heat pump style water heater for your house. According to the contractor I just spoke with, a heat pump/AC for a small house goes for $6000 or so.

(c.) Water heater … $624 from Lowe’s for a tankless 240V to handle a family of 3 or 4 … I found a price of $699 for a heat pump style one that can heat a whole swimming pool, so you may be able to get a lower price for something just to heat your water.

(d) Refrigerator/freezer/ice maker

These are available from a reputable retailer for about $1200 … You could also get a freestanding departmental style ice maker for probably $1100 today … I lived in the South growing up and my first cousin had one of these and I added this to my “GOT TO HAVE IT” list … but I found I’m just as happy with an in-door icemaker.

That’s it … total capital cost is $8523 (in 2024) … operating cost should be close to 0, though.

2025 and Beyond: The Transformational Power of Zero-Point-Energy

This next part may sound like science fiction, but it’s not … it’s coming out of the lab shortly

This will be revolutionary for our society from top to bottom:

(a) “over-unity” energy generation … more energy comes out than comes in. This makes one think of the long-time trope of perpetual motion, but the deep quantum weirdness at the core of reality itself …

The consequences: prices for most forms of energy should crash by 80% or more … this will make it beyond feasible to get out of fossil fuels completely, as you can then make unlimited hydrogen for use in fuel cell cars (available today and more widely available next year) …

(The economic short-to-medium impact on some industries laid waste by this transition will cause pain, but our society will be so much richer we can definitely now afford the Buckminster Fuller idea of giving everyone put out of work via unemployment a pension equal to his or her previous salary … just to sit home and think, or do whatever one wants to do.)