Smart Home and Smarter Energy

IOT has transformed the way we think of our homes and networks. A few years ago, a home network might have had a few computers and smartphones connected to it, but that has rapidly changed. Now, TVs, thermostats, voice assistants and more devices are all connected to the network to enhance the way we live. John Donovan of AT&T spoke about this rapid change from the physical network point of view, and said today they are accountable for over 150 PB of data per day! Nick Colsey from Sony also spoke about the changing smart home, and presented a great video use case showing a family’s movie night, where the temperature, lighting, and entertainment were all connected and changed to fit the setting. Smart homes have proven the ability to improve our daily lives and also help solve some big issues through better automation.

The Honda Smart Home: 

At my undergraduate university, Honda introduced a smart home which is a “zero net” home, and is an example of the future of home design. Honda integrated some amazing features into this smart home prototype: “It runs on solar energy and a battery system for storing solar electricity that is then used at night, and doesn’t need a conventional air conditioner and heater … The home’s automated and energy-efficient LED lighting system helps to regulate humans’ sleep-and-wake cycle by adjusting the brightness and warmth of the lights to mimic the shift in natural lighting”  [http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/what-its-like-to-live-smart-energy-efficient-home-future-180956001/]. The features presented in this house shows how much smart homes can impact our lives, from mimicking natural light patterns to regulate our circadian clock, to control of every aspect of the home via an iPad app which can, “control the lighting, the entertainment system, the charging of an electric car in the garage and the opening and closing of the window shades. He can also check the solar energy production, the charged level of the battery pack and room temperatures on the tablet.” [Smithsonian Mag]. What is even more impressive still is the ability to make the house so connected and intelligent while still maintaining the “zero net” title. Energy efficient appliances are used from heating/cooling system to home appliances, and solar energy with a battery storage system for use at night when solar production is low. Eliminating the need for heavy power consumption and smart resource usage go hand-in-hand with allowing use of clean energy production and storage, and this home is a use case in both aspects. Smart homes do not stop at automating household tasks, efficient energy usage while maintaining network connectivity of all IOT devices including solar production, energy storage, and smart devices is critical, and we are certainly seeing a rise in efficient energy production.

Battery Energy Storage: 

Battery energy storage has become increasingly popular with the arrival of many prominent brands releasing battery systems. Tesla released their Powerwall, while Mercedes and Vivint Solar as well as Nissan have released similar systems  [https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/18/15654046/mercedes-benz-home-battery-solar-panels-tesla-powerwall and http://www.businessinsider.com/nissan-releases-xstorage-at-home-battery-2016-5]. An article I found also describes Powervault’s own “plug-and-play” power storage system, and has a great deal of information on the usage and connectivity of the system. [http://www.techworld.com/startups/how-powervaults-smart-home-battery-is-transforming-energy-storage-3655494] According to this article, having a decentralized energy production scheme is important for the future due to the increasing amount of electric cars. In addition, decentralized energy production with battery storage systems would decrease costs for the consumers by allowing intelligent usage of the battery stored energy: “Data analytics through a cloud-based system optimise the scheduled charging of the Powervault to take account of price variations at different times of the day. This lets customers on time-of-use tariffs save money by charging up on electricity during the off-peak hours while they sleep” [techworld]. Again, connecting these systems to the increasing network of IOT devices can provide a hands-off way of managing energy to ensure consumer prices stay low and battery systems are utilized to the optimal extent.

Another article I found from Nissan uses charging of an electric vehicle to illustrate the point of off-peak charging to save costs, but also raises more interesting use case of battery storage: ““Vehicle to Home” is a system that allows you to supply your home with the energy stored in a Nissan LEAF’s battery… the system helps alleviate consumption of power in peak periods when demand is highest. Further, it can also be leveraged as backup power supply for emergencies.” [http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/TECHNOLOGY/OVERVIEW/vehicle_to_home.html]. Not only can a battery storage system bring down costs and alleviate load on the power distribution grid, but in cases of blackouts the energy stored in a battery can be used as a backup system to save critical household functions. JB Straubel from Tesla also briefly mentioned this point while discussing Tesla’s Powerwall in lecture this week, and used recent blackouts in Los Angeles as an example.

Conclusion: 

Smart homes have evolved rapidly throughout the years, especially with the rise of IOT and infrastructure to support the ever growing network of devices connected to the network. Looking into the future, smart homes will not only need to respond to users commands to change lighting or temperature, but tasks such as efficient energy use will need to be automated and run in the background. As John Donovan said in lecture this week, the network is equivalent to oxygen in that it must be invisible to the user and could only be noticed when it is not there. This is how I believe important background tasks of home automation in the smart home will have to be thought of as well. Once this is accomplished, homes can be taken completely off the grid and a decentralized energy model can be used to remove our dependence on non-renewable energy production and current energy distribution grid. Nissan’s article of shared battery is important to note as well, as efficiently distributing energy across domains as needed will become increasingly important when disconnected from the grid.

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