You might not have realised it, but if you were a fan of musicals as a child, then it’s likely you had your first encounter with a smart home courtesy of Caractacus Potts, the bungling inventor-cum-explorer with a heart of gold from 1968’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Potts’s splendid automated contraptions memorably served up (more or less) a Full English at the flick of a switch in one of the film’s early scenes, to the delight of his rosy-cheeked children. And although in 2023, a smart home might mean less “sausages delivered to your plate on a tiny steam train” and more “turn the heating on with an app before you get home”, the principle is the same – smart homes use technology to shape your home to your own needs.
A smart home is, in essence, anything that “makes the homeowner’s life easier and caters to their individual lifestyle”, says Jane Thyeson, design lead at Smile Kitchens. If that sounds like a wide definition, then it’s probably worth considering the word “individual” – in other words, a home that is customised, generally through technology, to work for the person that lives there. If that person was a pet owner, that might mean installing a sink that fits their dog for ease of washing; if they spent a lot of time entertaining, it might involve a kitchen with stowable surfaces to open up more space for guests to mill in. And according to Jo Jackson, head of product at appliance maker Fisher and Paykel, “this can be implemented through a huge variety of areas whether its appliances, lighting or speakers. ‘Smart’ design should enhance a person’s life both aesthetically and functionally, but not be over-complicated and create technological challenges.” In essence, if it’s designed specifically for you, the owner of the space, it could be called smart.
But are smart homes really worth the extra cost? Let’s start with the obvious: if you are the sort of person who struggles to find the camera app on your phone when you want to show someone a picture, then you’re not going to want to download yet another app that runs the bath for you – just use the tap. But if the idea appeals of turning on the lights in a room without leaving the sofa, then changing the colour of their LEDs at will, playing music or having that music follow you as your move from room to room, a smart home might be the ticket. A smart home is, quite frankly, a cool thing to show off.
Beyond the bells and whistles, proponents of smart homes argue that remote access to appliances, for example, can save time – you can pre-heat an oven before arriving home from work, or you can turn the heating on in the house an hour before coming home from a long trip. Take this to its logical extent, and a smart house could be considered safer, too. Jackson explains that smart features “can be hugely useful in instances of leaving the house and forgetting to turn off items such as the oven or hob. The remote access to these appliances will mean we can switch the appliances off even when we are no longer in the house, preventing fires.” Many people might find this argument more compelling than the idea that it’s particularly arduous to turn the oven on using your hands rather than your phone.
There are further instances where smart features can massively help with a homeowner’s ease of mind, says Thyeson. “Being able to monitor devices from anywhere inside or outside of the home is a definite benefit, especially with small children in the home. Some smart kitchen devices also come with safety features like automatic shut-off mechanisms, alerts for potential hazards like gas leaks or smoke detection, and notifications for expired food.” If you’re the sort of person to begin stressing if you’ve locked the door before you’ve even reached the end of the driveway, the faff of a newfangled app that can confirm the door is locked may outweigh the anxiety of not knowing whether or not you remembered.
The final major point that smart-home designers and brands like to emphasise is the environmental benefits and efficiencies that it can deliver. “Smart technology can analyse and adjust the temperature, airflow and humidity accordingly to deliver optimal results throughout your fridge and freezer,” says Jackson. “It can also rapidly chill new items to a safe temperature and quickly freeze foods to retain moisture.” All of this contributes to greater energy efficiency; she uses Fisher & Paykel’s proprietary ActiveSmart control system as an example which “anticipates future use by sensing environmental conditions and understanding how you use your fridge”.
In the short term, then, you might find yourself using less energy than you did before. However, there’s also the long game to consider. In July 2022, smart home company Hive (which is owned by Centrica, the company that also owns British Gas) announced that it was discontinuing support for some of its smart home features, despite having marketed and sold them for several years. Hive’s cameras – used in smart homes to check up on children or pets, or for security – were no longer supported from August of 2023, while their leak sensor was wound down just a month later. On August 1st of this year, support will also stop for the The Nano 1 Hub, Boiler IQ WiFi, and older versions of the Hive Thermostat.
Hive still makes smart home products, and they explained the decision at the time as one that allowed them to focus more on those which contribute towards environmental goals, specifically net zero. It’s a good illustration of the occasionally short lifetimes these systems can have, as they often rely on software that can become outdated. “A key thing to consider is whether your existing appliances have Smart capacity,” says Jackson, “and if not, whether you are willing to purchase new appliances in order to enjoy this added technology.” She adds that it’s important to trust the brands from which you buy any smart tech, and that they have robust security features too – nobody wants a hacker to be able to watch them sleeping on their own home camera.
If redundancy is an anxiety, Guy Goring, owner and technical director of Everhot, has a different solution. Everhot designs solar-powered ranges that “wake up” with the sun and are designed to complement grid power; as “trickle-feed, low-input” devices, they are deliberately not smart, but they are clever. The Everhot range draws a variable power input of up to 3 kilowatts, and an average of 600 watts. By comparison, a power shower might use anywhere between 7.5 and 10.5 kilowatts.
Goring describes Everhot’s ranges as “deliberately” not smart. The ranges are designed to last for years, and they recently introduced a small space heater that has no electronics, further extending its longevity. “The idea is that it’ll be ticking away for 50 years,” he explains. Meanwhile, the average white goods appliance is only designed to last around five years. “‘Smarter’ generally means, to me, electronics and redundancy and for the landfill. You’ve only got to look at your phone or your broadband router: how often do you have to change it? We’re about longevity and consistency of design and simplicity and reliability.”
Far from this being a Luddite’s approach, Goring agrees that Everhot’s solar capabilities are adjacent to smart technology, because once you have solar panels installed, you can run an entire house on them – not just the range – and sell excess power back to the national grid. During the winter, if you have batteries installed, you can even use cheaper night-time tariffs to charge them up and then use that energy for free in the daytime to run your appliances. That is your linked-up, efficient, “smart” home, he says. And there’s little to no risk of redundancy, because you won’t rely on the whims of an outside company to continue support for the product. “My frustration is the amount of products you see that say they’re smart, they save you money – and they do for the first six months, but then they’re in the skip, they’re landfill,” he explains. “That’s the antithesis of what we’re trying to do.”
Ultimately, it comes down to a question of lifestyle, taste and temperament (which, of course, is exactly what smart homes are designed to cater for). If you prefer the security and peace of mind of a smart home then the technology can be invaluable, and the ease of remote use can also be a boon. If you’re more old-school, and care about long-term efficiency, savings and the environment, you might want to move to a lower-tech, flexible system for your house that can generate its own electricity. Then again, beyond cost, there’s no reason not to do both. It’s up to you.
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