ASHRAE Journal - June 2021 - 54
RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
Column
How Smart are
Today's Smart Homes?
BY BETHANY SPARN, MEMBER ASHRAE; ERIC WERLING, MEMBER ASHRAE
Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in the number of " smart " devices available
for residential buildings. Some experts expect global market growth to double
to $150 billion in sales from 2018 to 2024.1 But, how smart are smart homes? Modern
car technology helps drivers operate their cars more efficiently and safely and catches
major problems before they happen. That type of feedback is not yet available to
homeowners. This column describes opportunities presented by advances in smart
home technology that could impact our homes and how we interact with them.
" Smart " is used in this column to describe a product
that uses sensors, controls, and communication
capabilities to provide consumers with information,
controls, and/or recommended actions. Today's
mainstream smart home devices are mostly focused
on convenience, but they have the potential to enable
more benefits for residents. Smart technology will
enable improved energy efficiency and increased
load flexibility that are key to creating grid-interactive
efficient buildings and achieving U.S. President
Joe Biden's goal of a zero-emission electric grid by
2035.2,3
While efficiency and flexibility could lead to cost
savings for consumers, other smart home technology
benefits are driving their adoption. Table 1 summarizes
these benefits. Icons in the discussion below about the
state of the art and in Table 1 identify potential benefits
of addressing existing technology gaps.
Smart HVAC
HVAC is the largest load in most residential buildings,
54
ASHRAE JOURNAL ashrae.o rg
J U N E 2021
and smart thermostats are a popular smart home product.
They make it easy to set up schedules or change
setpoints remotely for improved comfort and energy
savings. They often integrate extra sensors to monitor
temperature and humidity for the whole house. Some
can learn schedules and use weather forecasts to automatically
optimize thermostat setpoints. They can follow
time-of-use prices with a setpoint schedule or participate
in utility demand response programs. However,
areas still exist in which smart home technology could
do more for HVAC equipment.
Thermostat Compatibility
Currently, smart thermostats are designed to work
with central air conditioners, central air-source heat
pumps and forced air furnaces. However, the most common
smart thermostats do not work with some HVAC
Bethany Sparn is senior research engineer, Buildings Technology and Sciences Center,
at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo. Eric Werling is Building
America program director at the U.S. Department of Energy's Building Technology
Office. Werling is a member of ASHRAE's Residential Buildings Committee.
https://www.ashrae.org/
ASHRAE Journal - June 2021
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ASHRAE Journal - June 2021
Contents
ASHRAE Journal - June 2021 - Intro
ASHRAE Journal - June 2021 - Cover1
ASHRAE Journal - June 2021 - Cover2
ASHRAE Journal - June 2021 - 1
ASHRAE Journal - June 2021 - Contents
ASHRAE Journal - June 2021 - 3
ASHRAE Journal - June 2021 - 4
ASHRAE Journal - June 2021 - 5
ASHRAE Journal - June 2021 - 6
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ASHRAE Journal - June 2021 - Cover3
ASHRAE Journal - June 2021 - Cover4
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