Smart and Mainstream

Nearly 10 percent of US households are expected to have some form of remote monitoring and control system in place by 2014.

Big-name companies like Time Warner Cable, Lowe’s, Verizon and Sears have jumped into the market. With a growing range of affordable entry-level kits and service contracts now on offer to consumers, experts predict smart-home adoption will surge over the next several years.

“Over time everything will be connected,” predicts Kevin Meagher, vice president and general manager of Lowe’s Smart Home. “If it is electrically powered, one day it will be Internet linked.”

The proliferation of broadband technology and the explosive popularity of smart phones have spurred the development of affordable home automation products that consumers can use to control their home environment from the lounge, the car, the office, or anywhere.

Home automation services help consumers keep tabs on their homes or keep an eye on their kids or pets by watching live feeds from security cameras on their smart phones. Systems can send texts or email alerts when motion sensors are tripped, glass breaks or an elderly parent fails to get out of bed in the morning. From a distance, a homeowner can unlock a door for a plumber, turn on the outdoor lights, turn off the heat or close a garage door that was mistakenly left open.

The thermostat in Colleen Lunden’s apartment, for example, knows to turn itself on at 4:45 a.m. to warm up the house for her husband, Chris, an early riser, then to power down until she’s ready to get up at a more reasonable hour. Later in the day, Lunden’s office computer shows her a live feed from security cameras in the condo so she can check in on her two dogs. After work, an application on her smart phone lets her turns on the lights at home before she walks in the door.

Industry experts predict early applications like home security, lights and thermostats will whet consumer appetites for other uses down the road — remotely controlling blinds, appliances, entertainment centers and swimming pool pumps, or linking devices to one another so, for instance, the garage door opening at the end of the work day will cause lights inside the house to turn on and the television in the family room to flip to the sports channel.

Energy companies are increasingly working with retailers to develop home monitoring and control products that interact with their new smart meters, allowing homeowners to track their energy use and adjust the operation of their appliances to take advantage of bargain rates (offered at times of the day when system-wide demand for electricity is lowest). Manufacturers are also developing “smart” dishwashers and other appliances that can be programmed to run at “off peak” hours.

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