Smart homes may make life easier and more convenient. Who wouldn’t love being able to control lighting, entertainment, and temperature from their couch? Whether you’re at work or on vacation, the smart home will alert you to what’s going on, and security systems can be built to provide an immense amount of help in an emergency. For example, not only would a resident be woken with notification of a fire alarm, but the smart home would also unlock doors, dial the fire department and light the path to safety.
Here are a few more examples of cool smart home tricks:
- Light a path for nighttime bathroom trips.
- unlock your door automatically as you approach.
- Feed your pets on a schedule with a preset amount of food.
- Instantly create mood lighting for any occasion.
- Program your television so that your children can watch only at certain times.
- Warm the bedroom before you get out of bed so that it’s nice and toasty when you get up.
- Turn on the coffee maker from bed.
Smart home technology promises tremendous benefits for elderly people living alone. A smart home could notify the resident when it’s time to take medicine, alert the hospital if the resident falls and track how much the resident is eating. If an elderly person is a little forgetful, the smart home could perform tasks such as shutting off the water before a tub overflows or turning off the oven if the cook had wandered away. One building consultants estimate that a system like this could cost $20,000, which is less expensive than a full-time nursing home [source: Venkatesh]. It also allows adult children who might live elsewhere to participate in the care of their aging parents. Easy-to-control automated systems would provide similar benefits to those with disabilities or a limited range of movement.
Smart homes look great on paper, but are they for everyone? On the next page, we’ll look at some of the disadvantages of this technology.
