Intelligent home for the future
This, or something similar, is what the new smart home technology is all about. But what can you do if the living area is not new and smart home was not planned? We show you how you can easily retrofit.
Back in 1939, George H. Bucher wrote about the networked home in his article "The Electric House of the Future". What sounded utopian at the time is now standard in many areas. Even though technical innovations have been integrated into home technology time and again over the last few decades, it was only in the first few years after the turn of the millennium that the term smart home and the associated technology slowly became established. In Germany, around 3.3 million households use smart technology for home automation, and more than 11.5 million now use – and of course – smart speakers.
The speaker is a good example of how easy it is to integrate smart home into everyday life. If you want to talk to your living area in the future, we have a few tips for you. With these, you can upgrade your home easily and often cost-effectively without having to tackle a complete renovation right away.
The range of retrofitting services in the following areas offers:
2. energy efficiency heating and air conditioning
3. security & surveillance through sensors, camera, warning alarms (water, fire, etc.)
Control via hub or app
As a basis, you need a smart home hub or a corresponding app that is able to bring your devices together and allow you to control them easily and conveniently via a user interface. You should consider in advance which solution suits your needs and, above all, whether and what follow-up costs will be incurred, as some apps are only available as subscriptions. The decisive factor here is also how you want to control your personal living area - by voice command, via smart phone/tablet, or...?
Now it's getting comfortable
Let's get started; the decisive factor now is which areas are to be converted. Looking at the products on the market, the classic and simple retrofits for smart homes are:
Heating and climate control
Automatically regulate the room temperature, adapted to the outdoor temperature or time. Switch the heating on or off remotely as required and regulate the temperatures up or down.
You can control this area either with smart home thermostats or, in the case of individual electric heaters, with an intermediate smart home plug (with this solution, however, you only manage on and off). Sensible programming or control is also energy-efficient.
Smart lighting controlSeveral options can be used here. For example, you can replace the classic light switch and socket outlet with an SH solution, use an intermediate switch or an intermediate socket outlet, or choose smart home LED lighting. Light on demand, or wake up by „light on“ – is what's popular.
Smart security components
From door openers and doorbells with cameras and intercom systems to camera surveillance, smoke alarms, window and door sensors. Everything is possible. Start with an automatic door opener, for example. This is used with a cell phone and a distance of approx. five meters. Door and window sensors notify you of an unusual opening when you are absent.
Smart speakers for voice control and entertainment
Whether in one room, in all rooms or just individual rooms: with the right technology, you can wake up to your favorite music in the morning. This is already the most widely used solution in households today.
Smart household helpers
Coffee machine, robot vacuum cleaner, pool robot, etc.
Many household appliances are already controlled via Smart Home, you just have to use them.
Last but not least! The initial setup of the devices and installation are time-consuming. But for many areas of life, such as security and convenience, it is worth taking a look at the solutions. Gimmick or necessity – as with all new technologies, opinions differ here – Decide for yourself and we wish you „good conversations with your home“.
