BSEE
‘Alexa: What’s next in smart homes?’
By Nico van der Merwe, VP of Home & Distribuon at Schneider Electric
O
ur smart home assistants do more than play our favourite playlists and tell us the weather. In
many ways they are our life assistants, planning our days, telling us the news and controlling our home appliances. For years,
homeowners have been able to customise the aspects of their home using their smart devices, so what’s next?
As homes become smarter, bringing greater benefits, so will heating systems. By adopting smarter features, heat will be generated only when and where its required to the exact temperature that is optimal for every square foot. Simple upgrades to homes across the country will have a huge impact on comfort, convenience and energy bills. Homes will provide more control and improved thermal comfort of occupants by enabling the personalisation of each room.
The Smarter Choice
Many smart heating systems are designed so users can easily control their thermostat directly from an app on their phone – whether you’re out, on the sofa or having a lie-in. This is an obvious and altogether better and smarter choice for people to keep out the cold this winter. With homes and heating systems becoming increasingly connected, the benefits continuing to grow. The Internet of Things (IoT), allows homeowners to control their heating wherever and whenever, and schedule heating for when you wake up or arrive back. This saves not money and time, while improving comfortable.
To reduce energy consumption and heating bills, connectivity, reliability and overall performance are all crucial. However, there are a number of new functions that are fast becoming a necessity.
Smart Rooms
Today we demand personalisation. The next stage for heating is control and scheduling in each room independently. From a comfort point of view, each room should be at different temperatures – the bedroom cooler and the bathroom warmer. We control our lights switch-to-switch and we control our water tap-to-tap – why don’t we control our heat room-to-room. Traditional thermostats and radiator controls simply aren’t efficient or measurable. A smart room thermostat, multi-room system measures and controls the temperature of each room and has a huge impact on comfort, convenience and energy bills. Smart heating systems now enable users to personalise their home environment according to their needs by allowing them to control the temperature and schedule in their home completely independently.
Smart Usability
With the explosion of apps, it’s now possible to take control of at-home appliances including heating, lighting and entertainment systems. Not only does this make it easier for individuals to control their appliances, for heating in particular it allows individuals to take control of their energy on the go to reduce their long-term energy consumption. Now, however, heating is joining the smart home assistant (Google Assistant & Amazon Alexa, etc.) revolution. Controlling heating with voice commands, makes it easier than ever. You can now ask them to set your heating at a certain temperature, increase/decrease the heating and check what temperature your home is at.
Smart Analysis
Next generation heating solutions aren’t simply customisable, they provide complete insight into usage and self-improve. How does room temperature naturally change during the day, how does occupancy cause levels to fluctuate, and what is optimal? Today’s systems enable the kind of insight, crucial in a data driven world.
Today pioneering smart heating system, come as a single solution, linking radiators and thermostats through IoT technology, while a phone app provides convenience and control and analytics continuation optimises cost and comfort. These solutions allow users to monitor the temperatures of individual rooms and change them remotely via their smartphone, wherever they are
Home improvers may now be striving for smarter, more connected homes, but they want something that’s plug and play. Smart heating systems fit the bill as they have no wires, no installation and no mess and of course are better for the environment. Adopting technology like this is necessary if people want to reduce their energy consumption in the future. The most modern heating solutions will be key in facilitating smarter, more energy efficient homes for the benefit of our wallets and our planet.
COMBINED HEAT & POWER
12 BUILDING SERVICES & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER OCTOBER 2020
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