Page 33 - CE JOURNAL FEB 2024 ISSUE 20

Home automation allows you to perform a series of functions automatically through pre-determined conditions
such as the time of day, when someone enters or leaves home, the day of the week, temperature, and so
on. The systems are designed for peak personalization, and they adapt around your life, devices, and needs.
A truly smart home should be able to act intuitively and automatically, anticipating and responding to the needs
of homeowners based on learned lifestyle patterns and real-time interaction to increase comfort, awareness,
convenience, cost and energy savings.

SMART HOME CONNECTED HARDWARE

(Source: Guidehouse Insights)

The above figure illustrates how the connected home is set up with connected lighting, smart plugs, appliances,
fire and security systems and the integration with renewable energy systems, energy storage and electric
vehicle charging. The Smart home hub is also prominent. The homeowner would typically have an app on
their smartphone that would allow them to monitor the entire system and set the macros or configure how
they want the system to respond. Some of the more popular smart home apps include platforms such as
Amazon Echo, Google Home, SmartThings, Apple HomeKit, among many others that offer voice command
and environment monitoring.

The ability of the smart home to interact with the electric utility opens a whole new world of opportunities
for the homeowner, and in many cases is a compelling source of revenue. It demonstrates how the smart
home can play a role in transitioning the grid to decentralized clean power by performing ancillary services
such as demand side response and distributed energy storage. This ancillary service is referred to as Smart
Home as a Service (SHaaS).

In Jamaica, hobbyists and tech forward individuals have built systems at their home and offices that integrates
some devices for themselves. However, it is not common and the degree of macro-programming is generally
simple and usually set up to operate lights, unlock doors and control small appliances. There’s a big difference
between a connected device and a smart device. In addition to local remote controls, that have existed for
years, these devices are also able to be controlled over the internet. A smart device has the ability to exchange
data with other smart or connected devices on the smart home network. With the emergence of new and
modern homes in Jamaica, I am yet to hear about the delivery of a Smart Home.

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