Smart energy homes for rent.

More than 200 smart energy homes, which are virtually self-sufficient in energy terms, will be available to rent in Barcelona and Paris by the end of 2009. More homes are planned for Warsaw and Berlin and there are talks about a UK project.

The homes will use cutting edge technologies and microgeneration to cut down on energy use. They are being developed by the Smart Energy Home Consortium (SEH).

Rudiger Iden of BASF, one of the companies involved in the consortium, told the meeting that an apartment block of 200 dwellings in Paris will be retrofitted. And in Barcelona, around 40 flats will be built.

The Smart Energy Home project is an initiative of the European Platform for Sustainable Chemistry (SusChem).

The idea is to eliminate the net use of energy in the home. Some of the technologies used in the homes are already tried and tested, like wind turbines and solar panels. But the demonstration homes will provide the opportunity to try the next generation of technologies, which, if they work, can then be scaled up for the mass market. Examples include sensors that detect where people are in the building and turn lights and heating on and off depending on when and where they are needed. Other approaches being tested are the use of phase-change materials that store heat. These wax-like substances, which are embedded in the walls, melt when temperatures are high. When the external temperature goes down, the wax solidifies releasing the trapped heat back into the building.

'Innovative homes are currently substantially more expensive than standard houses due to low production volume of the products and lack of easy design solutions,' Iden said. But the consortium hopes to show that smart homes can be built in an affordable way, which means that consumers will not have to choose between environmental sustainability and modern living.