New tech, new savings

Solar panels to save energy and money.

With solar power, the biggest leaps in technology are coming with battery storage.

Currently most homes with solar systems can only use power from their roofs when the sun is shining. Batteries mean they can store that energy for use at night.

The Tesla Powerwall home battery for example aims to revolutionise the way solar power users consume energy.

The batteries use lithium-ion batteries and the same technology as Tesla vehicles, rather than traditional lead-acid batteries.

Enphase and Samsung are also developing better battery technology.

The other revolutionary battery making its way into New Zealand is the Aquion Energy saltwater battery, which distributor Taspac claims is the world's first environmentally friendly battery.

Kristy Hoare, managing director at Ecobob, says compared to lithium, sodium is cheap and abundant and is a breakthrough technology.

Another big advantage is that the sodium-ion battery cells can be completely discharged, which lithium-ion batteries can't. It means you can use more of the energy stored on the sodium-ion battery.

Then at the cutting edge of home heating in New Zealand is the Zehnder home heating units, which were used in Jac and Gavin George's headline-grabbing passive energy house in Wanaka.

They pay just $90 a month in energy costs and use the Zehnder ComfoAir 350 system.
For heat recovery, one of the most high-tech options on the New Zealand market is the Vaportec, which slashes hot water costs by recycling energy.

In the past, heat exchangers have been used in industry. Only in recent years have they found their way into homes.

A Vaportec heat exchanger system can extract energy from the grey waste water that drains from showers and reuse it.

The company says such an energy drain system can cut up to $290 off the average family's hot water usage a year. It is plumbed on to the standard waste pipe.

For every cutting-edge building product on the market there are many more available overseas or not yet certified by Branz.

One of those futuristic materials is the Solar Activated Facade. It uses solar radiation from the low winter sun and transmits it through the glass facade and absorbs it in a louvre-structured wooden absorber.

Slowly the wood is warmed during the daylight hours. After sunset, it remains warm for four to 12 hours.

In addition, 3D printing is likely to be used in a wide range of buildings in the future. A Dutch project from MX3D is building an entire bridge in Amsterdam using a 3D printer.

And a team of university researchers in Cardiff are working on a project called Materials for Life (M4L), developing self-healing concrete which would be of great use in an earthquake prone country such as New Zealand.