What is a smart home?

Answer 1

A smart home is one in which the various electric and electronic appliances are wired up to a central computer control system so they can either be switched on and off at certain times (for example, heating can be set to come on automatically at 6:00AM on winter mornings) or if certain events happen (lights can be set to come on only when a photoelectric sensor detects that it's dark).

Most homes already have a certain amount of "smartness" because many appliances already contain built-in sensors or electronic controllers. Virtually all modern washing machines have programmers that make them follow a distinct series of washes, rinses, and spins depending on how you set their various dials and knobs when you first switch on. If you have a natural-gas-powered central heating system, most likely you also have a thermostat on the wall that switches it on and off according to the room temperature, or an electronic programmer that activates it at certain times of day whether or not you're in the house. Maybe you're really hi-tech and you have a robotic vacuum cleaner that constantly crawls around your floors sweeping the dust?

Photo: The simplest kind of home automation. Plug this time switch into your electrical outlet and it will switch any appliance on and off up to four times a day. This one is digital and uses a battery powered clock. Others have large, slowly rotating wheels with dozens of tiny switches you press in or out to switch appliances on and off as many times as you like. Inside, switches like this use a simple relay that allows a small switching current from the clock circuit to switch the much bigger power circuit on and off.

All these things are examples of home automation, but they're not really what we mean by a smart home. That concept takes things a step further by introducing centralized control. In the most advanced form of smart home, there's a computer that does what you normally do yourself: it constantly monitors the state of the home and switches appliances on and off accordingly. So, for example, it monitors light levels coming through the windows and automatically raises and lowers blinds or switches the lights on at dusk. Or it detects movements across the floor and responds appropriately: if it knows you're home, it switches light and music on in different rooms as you walk between them; if it knows you're out, it sounds an intruder alarm.

Answer 2

You may see a smart home as a home that is smart with energy. E.g. Turns off lights, Turn off appliences after use and recycle. Or a Smart Home might be a home that has lots of high tech equipment. Or maybe a Smart Home is a home full of Smart People... It can mean anything.

Answer 3

No, a smart home does not refer to security. It refers to a home that is equipped with the best energy efficiency devices (light bulbs, appliances, etc.) It aso includes items such as programmable thermostats.