Here’s a great idea for homes that I am waiting for someone to develop.
Power windows.
Somewhere already I’m sure someone has some kind of power windows working in their house or building already. I am not referring to the odd one here and there built by a hobbyist. I also do not mean a remote control window. The kind that opens like those big curtains in a super luxury home from a hand-held device like the TV remote.
I mean power windows like the ones in your car.
I am suggesting that when you walk into a room there should be an extra switch right beside the light switch. So as you come in the room and decide whether or not to turn the light on or off, you also decide whether or not to open or close the window. And just like the power window control in your car, you should be able to power the window up or down to suit yourself.
The technology is all there. We just need to find someone who will build these power regulators that will be installed into the wall by the window and wired to a control beside the light switch – the same way the power regulator is installed in the door of your car.
Given the concerns we have today for energy, the environment and the desire for good fresh air when we can get it, this idea has to be a natural for some clever inventor to build and then shop around. Great efficiency could be had because the device could easily draw its power from a solar panel on the outside of the house beside the window.
It doesn’t have to be restricted to new homes, either. With a bit of drywall work, I reckon you could attach it in older homes as well as new.
The trick is to build these regulators small enough to install into a wall, and build enough of them so they can be sold in hardware stores, department stores and home improvement centres for a reasonable price. That shouldn’t be hard because, after all, they already make them small enough for car doors.
It is unquestionable that summer heat can be uncomfortable and air conditioning makes for better working and relaxing environments indoors, so few people open windows during the hot days and nights. During the cold winter months it is foolish to open windows. It freezes the house and makes the furnace chug unnecessarily for the sake of a bit of fresh air.
Fair enough.
But what of the glorious months in between? How about the freshness of springtime? Is there anything more exhilarating than the clarity of the air in the fall?
The crisp feel of a cool breeze coming through the window is something fewer and fewer people seem to bother with in the sterile environments we now manufacture through things we call “climate control”. If we installed a power switch right next to the light switch in every room we could all easily have access to the outside air at our fingertips.
As for older homes, I have been in more older homes than I can count where the windows have been painted over so many times they are just permanently shut. I have been in homes where people have said to me, “I could open the window but it is just such a hassle moving the plant stand or getting around behind the couch I can’t be bothered. So we just put the A/C on.”
People are by nature lazy. I know. I am that way. Installing power windows in houses will compel people to open their windows far more than they do now.
Think of it. Say you came upon two older homes for sale on the same street that appeared pretty evenly matched with a value of about a quarter of a million dollars. Say one of the vendors went to Canadian Tire and installed a power window in the master bedroom for less than $1,000.
Which one do you think would sell first?
So, go out and create the package and market it for the rest of the real estate community. And call me when it’s available down at the Home Hardware on Ontario Street here in my town. I’ll stop by to pick up a few of them.
Heino Molls is publisher of REM, which was another one of his crazy ideas. Email [email protected].
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