Energy conservation in a smart home

In recent times, developments in home automation systems have given way to the construction of smarter infrastructure. Such systems offer an easy way for users to control devices in a building. Commercially, there are several technologies that are currently being implemented for home automation purposes namely Z-Wave [1], ZigBee [2] and X10 [3]. The proprietary Z-Wave technology has various advantages and hence is used in this experiment. Research in this field has extended the capabilities of the technology into areas such as remote monitoring and control, power management, tracking & security systems and disaster warning systems. Power management has been of particular interest as it allows for a greener future and is added advantage to users as a cost-cutting measure. This paper analyses the power consumption in a standard home taking into account commonly used appliances and other devices and shows the management capabilities of a home automation system as well as an estimation of the savings in terms of power consumed and cost. The aim of the study is to measure the energy conservation across 4 homes using a Z-Wave home automation system. It is found that there is an 18.70% decrease in energy consumption when the home automation system acts to manage the power consumption of the devices in the home.