I request you to break your comment into themes and post them as articles on the blog for better visibility.

Personally I have found some concepts very helpful for an intelligent home planning,
1. Laptops in place of desktops, WiFi gadgets + Broadband wireless router (compact, portable, networked).
2. Piped Gas than cylinders – This way, cylinders can be parked outside houses, and not invite damage to floors or provide access to stranges inside the homes.
3. Piped Vacuum than carrying vacuum cleaners – Centralized vacuum cleaner and having a duct across the house will work nice. This way rolling a heavy vacuum machine and tripping over long wires can be avoided.
4. Western toilets with built in washing system – Anybody who has visited Japan, would have experienced this. Western toilets are extremely convenient for usage, especially old. However for people with constipation, eastern toilets works easier. To avoid this as well as making cleaning convenient for invalids, wester toilets with built in washing system is fantastic.
5. Solar Water heating systems – For Chennai it should work to provide hot water even on partially cloudy days. A good brand is a must.
6. Wood or UPVC windows – I looked at Fenesta and have no hesitation in recommending this over wooden windows. Doubled pane glass with vacuum, excellent finishes available on UPVC. Though Fenesta windows, compares well to the cost of good quality teak windows with glass panes, the quality of workmanship on Fenesta and features makes this a better choice. Besides timely completion of project can be accomplished.
7. Low-cost housing – Today sand, brick, steel, labour, cement, wood are all expensive and going North and have frequent disruptions. Making reinforced mud-blocks at the site(Mud/clay+Cement+Quarry dust), for ground floor walls, hollow-blocks for first-floor walls will reduce costs significantly (anyway you need to consult reinforced mud-block experts/builders). Steel frame for doors, with wooden packing in the section, will save costs on door frames.
Motor-room or Submersible pumps – Submersible pumps are Rs.2000 higher than normal mono-bloc pumps. However motors are normally set with a foundation in a motor-room, with grill gates etc. Compared to these costs, paying Rs.2000 more for a submersible motor makes life easier.
Multiple water lines or single water line with pressure pump – Its more elegant to have a wider dia pipe for water lines with a pressure pump than running several lower dia pipes.
…..