Forget the dirty, oily garage of the past -- soon it will be one of the most technologically-connected rooms in your home.

While oil — and gas — prices have been steadily falling over the past months, there’s no doubt that today’s consumers are demanding high-efficiency vehicles, such as gas-electric mix, fuel cell or even pure electric. Some are even calling hybrid sales a recession-defying phenomena, though recent sales have started to fall flat.

Nevertheless, the home of the future will certainly feature changes in one room that barely anyone could have foreseen even a couple of years ago. Soon, garages will become “smart.”

According to Michael Brylawski, cofounder and leader of the Rocky Mountain Institute’s Mobility + Vehicle Efficiency (MOVE) Team, “”This is where your car, the house, and the electricity system meet.”

Not too soon in the future, your electric-hyrbid car will plug into power and data stations at home, near the office and even parking garages for recharging. While the initial push of energy will be from the grid to the car’s batteries, it is expected that those same batteries will serve another purpose — to store energy for the overall grid and serve as a way for power companies to smooth out the naturally fluctuating supply of energy.

In addition, that same connection could interface with computers that monitor the “health” of your car and its systems, serve as a way to monitor diagnostics and driving history and even be a way to sync inhome and onboard systems like media libraries (music and video), an integrated phone’s address book and downloads to GPS-driven services like restaurant guides.

Opening next week on the grounds at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry is a real, three-story Smart Home that will showcase technologies for green living, automation and other Jetson-era wonders. A partnership between the Museum, Michelle Kaufmann Design, All American Homes, ComEd, Wired Magazine and People’s Gas, this new attraction is sure to bring out consumers who are hyper-tuned into conservation and ecofriendly ideas and initiatives, especially in light of recent concerns regarding global warming, increasing energy costs and social impact on the environment.

Smart homebuilder marketers should see an opportunity here to bring their own green efforts in front of prospective homebuyers (and existing owners — if the builder is truly embracing greenbuilding, what a wonderful concept to be known for and opportunity for repeat buyers or even referrals).

Carefully consider what plans your company is taking to become a more ecofriendly — and efficient — builder and communicate these to select audiences of new and back traffic. Some ideas include:

• Host seminars (in your furnished sales model that has been staged to feature energy-conservation efforts) that discuss what consumers can do to conserve energy and live more in harmony with the environment. Remember to include partners like landscapers, reps from energy-efficient appliance manufacturers, home automation experts and contractors that specialize in advanced building techniques.
• Create a special mini web site that talks about your green efforts and provides downloadable documentation for buyers to reference.
• Package and promote special homes with automation features and energy-saving appliances. Speak of the benefits of these homes over others (monthly utility savings, sense of security and convenience, etc.).
• Moderate an online discussion on your company’s blog or web site that encourages consumers to speak about their thoughts regarding energy conservation, home automation and what they think future homes might look like.
• Hold a contest that allows people to submit their ideas for a future home. Build out a model with the best and give this away to a lucky winner. Obviously, collecting the ideas should yield a rich contact list for future prospective buyers (especially those looking for an ecofriendly and automated home).

A great reward for any prospective buyer taking part in any of these efforts — even a visit to a sales center that has been set up to present your vision of these increasingly important concerns — is to give them two free passes to the Museum’s exhibit. Package this smartly with your own literature on these topics and you’re instantly the expert!