By Amanda Macken
With Apple getting into the smart home game, many people are curious what our homes will look like in years to come. Implementing technology into our homes that could automatically control temperature, lighting, security systems, music, kitchen appliances and more is just around the corner.
In fact, some of these futuristic features are already here. For instance, Samsung and LG released fridges in 2011 and 2012, respectively, which can keep track of the food and beverages in your fridge and tell you when something is near expiration. LG’s fridge can take it a step further and connect to your smartphone, giving you a shopping list in real-time so that you can get in and out of the grocery store with exactly what you need.
In heating and cooling, Nest Labs, the smart thermostat and smoke alarm-maker, has produced a state of the art system that can detect when you’re at home, asleep, or at work and change the temperature of your home accordingly. They claim that it can save you up to 20% off your heating and cooling bill. It also carefully controls your heating systems for either saving money or keeping the room perfectly warm. Plus, it will give you a warning when it’s time to change your filters.
While technology is improving by leaps and bounds, some ideas are completely fleshed out, such as floors with motion sensors that can detect your presence, but they are coming. In the meantime, we have interesting little inventions, such as Belkin’s WeMo Switch + Motion. These devices can be placed in a room and attached to your wall plug. When you enter a room, the motion sensor will turn on the lights and when you leave they will turn off. To take it one step further, you can set a schedule for appliances or turn them on or off using your Android device or iPhone.
While some of these devices cover our smart home needs, this infographic from Trade Price Tiles decided to take a look at cutting edge technology that will revolutionize the way we interact with our living spaces:
I’m not sure that a smart home will help reduce consumption. The LG fridge seems to encourage food waste and if any of these homes are oversized and in the suburbs, you have a host of other tradeoffs including filling the house with ‘stuff’, stormwater runoff, sprawl, obesity, etc…
What we really need is smaller homes, smaller appliances, walkable neighborhoods and a shared economy. Technology will not save us and it can be financially out of reach for the majority of the population.
Here’s an article for thought… http://greengirlsuccess.com/2014/06/03/green-tech-or-low-tech/
Good points. Can’t disagree. I think the smart technology can help, but there are much bigger fish to fry.
Ingenious design- behold the power of modern technology…