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#1 (hands down) - Ballisticrete -- I'd put it on the outside of any new home I may build. Ever since we've gone to stucco or other lighter, cheaper, more energy conserving materials, we've gone away from physical projectile protection that mud/adobe, logs, and brick used to provide. Ballisticrete solves that problem. 1" stops small arms fire, and 2" stops just about everything short of a 50 cal.

#2 - Solar lighting for rooms with no windows -- I have a Solatube in a 2nd bathroom, and it is great for savings and ambiance.

#3 - Solar attic fans running like a server tower -- With water lines in newer homes going in the attic in AZ (vs. copper in the ground), the tap gets DAMN hot in the summer - leading to a lot of wasted water from the tap. Solar attic fans that kick on above a certain temp and can be disabled in cooler seasons (to preserve the heat), and run like old computer towers (pulling in cool and pushing out hot), would save that water - and cut your cooling costs.

#4 - Fiber + Cat6/7 to every room. (I already have a central networking box for all networking and cable - an absolute must - but I only put in Cat5E.)

Less fancy "tech" that is just as important:

#5 - More internal storage/pantry space in the right places - A big, internal, temp-controlled food storage area (vs. out in the hot garage) is a must. And why would I need a 4th or 5th bedroom that's just going to become an unorganized collection spot for junk?
#6 - Longer garage for more utility; If possible, a 3rd car garage spot.
#7 - Grow more usable trees (fruit vs. ornamental trees for looks). Cut down on grass significantly.

It's a poor man's Solatube. However, in a hail-prevalent area like mine, I would go to the expense of a Solatube than plastic bottles.

Since you're probably not a poor man living in a shanty town, you have likely gone to the expense of electric lighting. This trick is not intended for you.

I've seen this type of lighting system before on old ships (USS Constitution, etc...).

Instead of a water they used glass blocks (or similar).

But, it's great to see a novel way of recycling trash into something beneficial! :)

Cheers!

Commercially available "light pipes" have been available for decades. They are sold all over the world by many different companies.

The commercial products actually work, can reach deeply embedded rooms, and even basements, and save real electricity.

This is not novel, and it is certainly NOT beneficial.
Recycling a soda bottle and ruining your roof is a fools bargain.

Please think before you gush.

I have a Solar Tube in my house in California and it works excellently. Better looking but more expensive than this DIY version.

It's a poor man's Solatube. However, in a hail-prevalent area like mine, I would go to the expense of a Solatube than plastic bottles.

Make sure any new building is a "net-zero" addition, with LEED Platinum level energy efficiency, and enough renewable energy to make the building energy neutral or energy positive. http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CategoryID=19 Include things like SolarTubes for natural light: http://www.solatube.com/ Include lots of plug-trees in open spaces for laptops (that's where you can put plants). Include a secluded quiet zone, for serious programming or study, and a glass walled meeting room for discussions and media development. Personally, I like a library with all the tech manuals, programing books, software manuals, etc. even out of date books give us valuable perspective and unique understanding. Remember you are teaching the spectrum of computer skills, from basic literacy to specialized science, include areas for business, programing, and creative visual arts. (A serious lab for robotics, AI, and smart phone apps wouldn't hurt).

When I had a house built back in 1998, "Solatube" lighting was one of the build options. From this pictures, this looks like the same thing with a slightly different input lens for a system like this:

http://www.solatube.com/residential/product-catalog/brighten-up-series/index.php

I bought one to brighten a dark bathroom. It was nice. pretty much the same effect as a skylight, but it worked even where there was an attic in the way that would make a standard skylight unworkable.

I've wondered for years why nobody made something like this... (Or have they, and I just didn't know about it?)

You just haven't known about it. This is a variation upon a theme of the solar tube. You can even get them in Costco now for under $200 USD each. Though this company appears to be trying to patent this very specific design, a parabolic collector feeding sunlight indoors is not new, and much of the technology is in the public domain and used with varying degrees of success. Naturally, you'll have a higher performing system the more money you put into it, but a good ROI is difficult to achieve as with any solar product. Of course, there also is something to be said for getting off the grid (and more reliability outside of cloudy days) in itself, which may be difficult to put a price on.

Light tubes like the Solatube would come in handy here. However with a battery bank work could be done when it's dark. Last year or the year before IEEE's "Spectrum" had an article on how people in South Asia have been able to increase their income by buying a solar panel and batteries which allows them to do some work when dark. And the panels generate more income because they are made locally creating jobs. Ump, I just searched the site but didn't find anything, maybe it's only in the print edition.

Honda also makes some super quiet generators that are less of a pita than solar.

I'd only use generators as a backup, even when converted to run on alcohol or methane.

http://www.solatube.com/

So has the prism glass.

Nothing new here, move along...

A company called Solatube makes pre-made solar powered attic fans

You could use fiber optics to collect sunlight from all over the building's surface and redistribute it evenly to the plants inside. ...as a matter of fact, that would be a great idea for offices and residences on the insides of buildings, too... I wonder if anyone's working on implementing it.

There are things like Solar light tubes that transmit light to the interiors of buildings. These are getting to be popular in energy self-sefficient residential construction.

Okay, plants convert 1%-2% into energy, solar panels 6% - 16%, wahoo, science beats nature/God, you're happy... except for one thing...

You STILL need to give the plans the light to turn into energy, unless you figured out how to wire them with a low voltage line... :)

So, you collect 500 Watts of sunlight-based energy on a panel, that would give the plant 10 watts, instead your panels got 100 watts (assuming 20% efficient panels by the time you finished building this thing)... Okay, now I can throw off 100 Watts of light to the plants... Unless I figure out how to "plug the plants in" I now have 1/5th the light powered by the panels as I collected... The plants still need 100 Watts, even if they only get 2% of the energy.

Now, let's assume that incandescent waste most of the energy, and we can get 5x throughput by only giving plants the part of the spectrum that we think that they need. Now our 500 Watt-equivalent sunlight is turned into 100 Watts of power, which gives the equivalent amount of light as the original 500-Watts of energy.

I STILL only have enough light for 1 floor. Perhaps windows cover 50% of the needs (on the peripheral), so we can get 2 floors out of it... still not impressed.

This is a neat project, and conceptually an option for some buildings... 2-4 floors on top of the building might be viable. Maybe using something like a Solar Tube to bring natural light in will help... Maybe plants that need less than 100% light will work...

However, solar panels -> energy -> lights -> plants is unlikely to gain you ANY energy gain, before focusing on the energy to create the panels and setup this system.

However, roof-top gardens are popular with some, and maybe some buildings like college dorms with workstudy labor MIGHT get college students tastier foods. I think that drying to grow wheat/corn like this is absurd, but for vegetables, who knows.

I think you're referring to a product called Solatube (or equivalent) http://www.solatube.com/

"Fiber is pointless because its for long haul really (at least in its current version), you need fast switching, which as far as I am aware doesn't exist for fiber. Verizon will bring fiber to your house w/ FIOS but that will switch back to XbaseT to connect to your network..."

Gigabit over fiber offers electrical isolation to avoid ground currents between devices. I would recommend providing fiber from the outset. Verizon's current practice may change, I suggest planning for the future you can anticipate. Fiber also isolates surges.

Other than the fiber, look at structured cabling systems for ideas about the nature and number of conductors you might want to put in place.

As for speakers, these wires must carry heavy currents. Tiny wires will not do. Think of something like zip cord for each speaker and imagine balanced lengths for left and right. I would be inclined not to build in speakers, but to run wiring to attach free-standing speakers.

My philosophy would be to imagine each wall as a zone and home-run fiber and cable from nodes on that wall to a closet or panelboard. Then connect these closets to one another in rooms or clusters of rooms. Finally connect the clusters to a main closet. Only conduit and cabling plus fiber and mule tape go in the walls, and lots of it. Some may remain unterminated, for later use.

As on the Internet, I want plenty of dumb interconnect to feed the intelligent edges.

Modern equipment doesn't take much power, but you will need many more receptacles and they need to be spaced and oriented to handle wall warts. And you will need surge suppression for power and phone as well as for WAN connections.

I really like the CANbus suggestion in another post, and that may be a separate network of another kind.

Do not build complex stuff into the structure. It breaks and you will find manufacturers and distributors "don't support that any more." If you insist to follow that path anyway, buy the remote location spares kit and store it in the closet. And don't build the structure tight up against technical objects (appliances, TVs, computers, etc.) because their replacements will be differently sized when you go to install them.

There are many neat devices offered in home automation. I suggest staying with tried and true stuff (X10, Levitton) unless you can convince yourself that a failure of the neat thing won't require opening a wall.

Finally, you can get sunlight to provide free lighting in some locations [CAUTION--sound]:

http://www.solatube.com/

Have a great time. This will be fun.

I don't have one yet, but I am planning to buy soon.

Even when raining, the outdoor light feels much more comfortable and natural than indoor incandescent lightbulbs. I imagine the idea has been around since Gog the Hut Thatcher fell through one of his creations and the hut owners just left the hole in the roof.

Nowadays, they've got a nice system where the light is guided through a reflective tube that can be directed to any room in the house.

http://www.solatube.com/

It was only natural that the techonology would progress to where we are splitting the sunshine into fiber optics and redirecting them all over the house. However, 2007 is a pretty long way off for what seems to be a relatively simple application of existing technologies.

On the not new front, these work really well. And I'm fairly sure you can pick them up (simple ones anyway) at Lowes.

http://www.solatube.com/

one in a windowless bathroom and another in the kitchen, this is not new, mine are over 10 years old...

Here's something close -Mark

Solatube sells a tubular skylight that basically acts as a "light pipe" from the roof into the ceiling of any room in your house. I have no idea how well they work, I've never seen one in real life, I just remember seeing an ad in the back of Discover magazine and thinking it was probably not a bad idea.