The History of Construction
Housing is essential to human life. Everyone needs a home to live in to satisfy our primal need for shelter. In modern times, we have a plethora of housing options thanks to a surge in sustainable technology. However, it did not start this way as, since the dawn of man, we have seen people move from mere huts and caves to big beautiful skyscrapers.
The past is littered with many types of housing being tested from different materials. The first people used caves since they did not have the tools necessary for creating housing that would ensure long-term survival. The downside of using the cave is you aren’t able to mold it to your liking, and you are always exposed to the elements and the dangers of predators.
As time went on, we learned to use tools and wood to build a house. These houses were primitive, but they were good enough for most people and allowed humans to establish tribes. Things changed, however, when we could use metals and stone and wood to build a house. This is also true with the invention of the log cabin. Now we are able to live in a comfortable wooden house and have a stone fireplace where we could put the wood to heat everything. It meant that people could survive well in the winter and didn’t have to struggle. It also meant that people could dedicate more time to finding food supplies and exploring new forms of technological advancement.
Perhaps the single greatest leap in housing was the implementation of cement. The entire construction industry is run on Portland cement which is a fundamental material to the way we live our lives. With this, we can create almost any structure we want in a relatively cheap manner without any issues. We are able to build the largest skyscrapers imaginable by combining steel and Portland cement. This wonder material has also made home construction relatively cheap. This along with drywall has made our world a better place for living. As the world changed, housing has changed with it and now we are in modern times with many great construction options.
Current Construction Options
Rusty Tweed is an expert in sustainability and is pushing the boundaries in how we live. As he sees it, there are many exceptional housing options available to us today. One of the most important influences on current technology is the notion of sustainability. One of the biggest factors in sustainability is the changing economic and social demand put on housing.
Sustainability is now a big factor in the way we live our lives and how we judge our standard of living. For example, burning coal might provide electricity to your home, but it also puts a massive amount of harmful gases into the atmosphere that can damage your health if you ever inhaled them. This means we have to look for more sustainable options that can help meet our energy needs while not damaging anything. The future of housing will involve a focus on this type of change.
Current construction options haven’t changed remarkably for a long time. The biggest change has been the adaptation of electronic integration and solar panels. For example, you can make a house more efficient by simply adding an IoT device that can detect when you aren’t at home and turn the heating and cooling off until you are ready to return. That way you don’t burn energy while you aren’t in the building. These simple changes in the way we use technology have created huge impacts on energy usage and how it has impacted the world. Current technology is evolving at a rapid pace and Rusty Tweed has done a lot to ensure that this is true. For example, he is championing the use of solar energy through investments like the Kukui Solar Project.
Having a solar panel on your house has the tremendous benefit of offsetting a lot of your energy usage. Some people get a check in the mail from the electric company instead of having to pay a bill every month. You also know you are getting energy from clean methods, and not from coal or gas. This means the air you breathe is a lot better for everyone around and the energy generation does not take up any additional space. Current housing options are being powered by gas, coal, and nuclear. With the notion of being more sustainable, we will see the need to move towards wind and solar energy.
Technological Breakthroughs in Construction
There are many amazing technological breakthroughs in the area of construction technology. These technologies have allowed development to progress at a rapid pace. One of the biggest things that have changed is the implementation of prefab concrete. Prefab concrete is pre-manufactured, so you never have to do it on site. This makes it possible to essentially build the house off-site, then using big machines, take it to the site you plan to build on and assemble it.
The time it takes to build is shortened dramatically when all workers are doing is assembling pieces of concrete. This makes their job a lot easier and they can get the work done quicker. It also has many secondary effects such as creating more jobs and helping the local economy. As time goes on, we will see this being more popular and eventually more houses will be made using prefab concrete. Another emerging trend is the usage of sensors and other electronics in the home. The more electronics being used, the better it will be for living a sustainable life. We are able to control more variables and lower energy bills with these technologies.
What the Future Holds
The future is bright for housing. Technology has progressed at a rapid pace and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. However, the biggest thing holding housing back is how quickly we can build them. This is changing with the creation of 3D printers. 3D printing is a revolutionary way to build certain items, and it will be used more often to build houses. We already see more homes being built with 3D printing than ever before. It has dramatically shortened the amount of time needed to build a home from months to days. In fact, despite still being fairly new technology, we are seeing 3D printers being used to build a house in just one day. Once the technology gets better, we will see more houses being built in a lot quicker time.
When it comes to 3D printing, we will also need new materials. The combination of these factors will enable us to get to the next level in housing. This will involve having tremendous housing options at affordable prices. We will see people being able to live comfortably in a cheap house that was built in one day by a printer. The house will be very sustainable and allow people to live comfortably in all weather conditions.