• Smart Homes
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Smart Homes

BSRIA's pioneer research team have recently introduced the a study on Smart Homes and Environmental Controls that will cover the following countries:

France, Germany, UK, Norway, rest of northean and western Europe and USA.

Background to the study:

There are lots of interest from the industry on the Smart Home market in the last decade.  Many people agreed the market did not really take off in the past as not many home owners are willing to pay a premium on smart home systems. 

There are other obstacles:

• low consumer awareness, fear of technologies, lack of industry standards. 
• The smart home market is concentrated on the small niche high-end market.
• The penetration of smart home system in the overall residential market is still on very low.

Now is the turning point:

The European Union set a 20/20 target to tackle climate change. This target initiates lots of new legislation, programmes and other targets in Europe.  For example the roll out of smart meters and the target on building zero/low energy homes. There are also various programmes that increases the awareness of home owners on energy conservation. All these are seen as key drivers on the smart home market now.

Apart from energy concern, aging population is also another driver on the market as in some mature market, e.g. Norway and Sweden, smart home technologies are applied to improve health and safety at home for elderly and disable people.

Five main perspectives of Smart Homes Technology
- Entertainment
- Security
- Comfort and Convenience
- Energy Saving
- Health and Safety

Questions the study will answer:

• What is the size of the existing smart home market?
• What is the rate of penetration?
• Market growth and the momentum in the near future
• Role of the Utilities, what are their influence on the market development in future?
• How does the roll out of smart meters and smart grid development is going to affect the market?
• What kind of functionality and features that the Smart Home system is required?
• Which communication standard(s) will be the mainstream in future?
• What is the customer segmentation?
• Future trends and market evolution

Product Scope

Smart Home system

• User interface

- Keypad

- Touch panel

- Push button

- Remote controller

- Others

• Central controller
• Sensors (supplied to smart home system)

- Motion sensor

- Light sensor

• Actuator (supplied to smart home system)

- Door / window actuator

• Heat meters

Environmental controls (heating,
cooling and ventilation)

• Intelligent thermostat (communicative, programmable)
• Temperature sensor
• Humidity sensor
• CO2 sensor
• Automatic TRV

Report Contents (an example from a European report):

• Definition and glossary
• Market size

- Market size of smart home and environmental controls market
- Market size by product (refer to product scope)
- Market share by application: environmental control, smart appliance, consumer electronics, light controls, security system and safety alarm
- Market size by housing/building type: Villas, high end
apartments, mid-range houses, mid-range apartments, zero carbon
homes, assisted living homes, hotels and commercial buildings
- Market size by new build and existing building 

• Drivers and Obstacles
• Market Forecast
• Market Trends
  - Protocol: protocol types, market share, future trends
  - System specifications: system components, system functions,
  connectivity
  - Display panel and controller function
  - Energy management requirements
  
  Route to market: distribution channels, major integrators
  
  Market competition
  - Competitive analysis
  - Market share of major players
  - Company profiles
  
  Country economic indicator and residential construction statistics