Over half the world’s population now live in cities, yet our desire to be closer to nature is stronger than ever. Combining innovative tech and nature means that living sustainably can be pretty luxurious. Here we’ll take a look at four green features for today’s eco-friendly luxury homes- proving that earth-friendly living doesn’t have to mean sacrificing the finer things in life.
Eco-Friendly Luxury Homes
Earth-friendly living does not have to mean “doing without.” In fact quite the opposite is found to be true, as you’ll see in these eco-friendly luxury home features.
Fabulous, luxury homes around the world are now sporting green roofs, utilising geothermal energy, making use of solar panels year round, as well as bringing nature inside to improve wellness.
Luxury eco-friendly homes also feature humidity controlled indoor air, LED lighting, HEPA air filters, and filtered drinking water. Let’s take a look at just a few of the green features found in today’s eco-friendly luxury homes…
Natural Materials
Natural materials are also becoming part and parcel of sustainable design. Instead of using CO2-producing and polluting concrete, home builders are incorporating bamboo, wood and stonework into their designs. When the home eventually needs replacing, these materials will decompose naturally (or harmlessly make their way back into the environment, in the case of stone).
Green Roofs And Walls
Green roofs and living walls are sprouting up on buildings around the world, from contemporary luxury residences to public buildings, train stations and businesses. If you’re building your home from scratch or restoring a period property, you can buy home lifts in the UK that will take you up to your green roof terrace or out onto your living roof. Typically living roof tops or green walls are made using hardy succulents, wildflowers, varieties of grass and herbs that can handle longer period without water. The plants are grown on a waterproof membrane that provides drainage, insulation, and filtering. This results in stunning self-sustaining living architectural features that bring natural beauty and cleaner air to urban buildings.
Solar Panels
The abundant energy of the sun can be harnessed using solar rooftop panels, that are lightweight, cost-effective and provide energy for the home. Solar panels are suitable for most properties, whether the home is modern or historic, there is always a way that they can be incorporated into the design. If you don’t like the look of traditional solar panels, innovative Swedish company SolTech Energy produce beautiful glass roof tiles that allow builders to create roofs that are energy-efficient and aesthetically pleasing. Solar power and green energy are a must for any eco-friendly luxury homes.
Kitchen Garden
Gardening is a fabulous way to clear the mind and soak up the Vitamin D. Having a kitchen garden is the ideal way to grow your own organic food, which of course comes with all kinds of health benefits of its own. Kitchen gardens are as good for the planet as they are for the gardener. Kitchen gardens otherwise known as “potagers” have long been a staple of luxury homes across the land and are making a resurgence.
The increasing desire for organic produce, home kitchen vegetable gardens have become a favourite feature of luxury estates, allowing for the “farm-to-fork” concept to be brought back to the home.
With an abundance of space, a keen gardener can produce an orchard or even a small vineyard!
Invite Nature Inside
Urban residential buildings are inviting nature inside more and more. James Fenner, whose consultancy, Silk Road, helps property developers “rewild” their projects by ensuring green features in their designs, says he finds people increasingly want homes connected to nature, not technology. Trees, flowers, grass and bushes are good for people’s mental and physical health, he says. The indoor winter garden featured above was created inside a three storey Belgravia mews as a way of bringing nature inside. The winter garden forms part of a master suite that occupies the whole floor. The garden has a retractable glass roof so that it becomes a walled garden on warm days.
With the increased emphasis on reconnecting with nature, it will be interesting to see how technology and nature combine to bring more innovative eco-friendly luxury homes in the future.
Christine
