The Future of Home Automation

Even though home automation isn’t a new industry, it still isn’t a standard for most homeowners. Because this is an industry that has experienced slow growth for a few decades now, it’s hard to predict where exactly home automation is headed in the next several years. Still, considering that personal electronic devices like smartphones and tablets are in our hands or pockets all day long, it seems only natural that home automation—which can easily interact with these personal devices—is close to being just as important to homeowner, too.

Introduction of New Technology for Home Security Systems

One big change expected in coming years is the introduction of new technology for use in home security systems. Just this last year, ADT released a user friendly home security system that can connect with up to 16 different security cameras and can be easily managed from an Internet browser by anyone with intermediate computer skills.

Even more advanced is the face-recognition camera by Netatmo, also introduced in 2015. This camera can be programmed to recognize certain faces, like friends and family members, and will send an alert to the administrator’s smart phone when they arrive at their front door. And if an unrecognized face arrives at your front door, you will also receive an alert and be able to watch a live feed from your smart phone.

Reducing Energy Consumption Through Smart Home Products

At Modernize, we believe strongly in doing everything we can to create more sustainable homes. As the modern world continues to place a high priority on green living and reducing consumption of energy created from nonrenewable sources, we expect that smart home products will be heavily used as energy saving tools. Currently, the majority of smart home devices that control heating and air conditioning systems and lighting systems can be easily controlled from any Internet capable device.  This allows users to program their systems while away from home, lower thermostat temperatures, or program lights to only be used during certain times of the day.

Newer to the market, and still not widely used, are systems like the Bosch Sensortec, that not only allows users to monitor their heating and cooling system but also smartly monitors the home itself. This system can measure heating, cooling, humidity, and air quality and will make the necessary adjustments if these levels are found to be unsafe or out of balance.

Increasing Family Safety Through Smart Home Products

Another area expected to grow in popularity in the near future is the use of smart home products to increase family safety, specifically related to fire protection and carbon monoxide monitoring. The same company that created the Nest, a smart thermostat, has released Nest Protect. The Nest Protect is a fire alarm and carbon monoxide detector that connects with smartphones and other Internet enabled devices. Anytime a concern arises, an alert is sent to your smartphone, allowing you to act immediately to protect your home and your family.

Monitoring and Protection of Internet Enable Devices

Lastly, as the number of devices in homes rapidly increases, we expect further integration of smart home products aimed at monitoring and protecting Internet-enabled devices. Last year, Disney released Circle with Disney, an Internet monitoring device that connects straight to the wireless router in the home and controls all Internet capable devices from there. Not only does this device monitor access to restricted sites, but it can control just how much time is spent on certain websites and Internet connect applications. So, if one child needs to spend an hour online doing homework, Circle with Disney only allows access to permitted sites.

All in all, it is an exciting future for the world of home automation. Advances in technology are allowing homeowners to makes the lives of their family safer and more cost effective through the use of smart home devices.