The future of the intelligent home: Roundtable in association with Gira

As smart meters and wireless home systems grow in popularity, a diverse panel gathered to discuss the future of intelligent technology in the home. The starting point for this AR round-table was to scope out the potential benefits of using high-end intelligent systems to revolutionise multi-unit housing developments, and to discuss the barriers to a wider adoption of this technology. Now that smart meters have gone mainstream, there is scope to introduce more technology into the home, particularly given the popularity of smart thermostats, which monitor energy consumption and enable you to control heating and cooling using your mobile phone. The irony is that these so-called smart meters are nothing compared with the intelligent systems running on the KNX platform, now being employed in luxury multi-unit buildings and high-end hotels, where the automated system switches off the air conditioning when the guest opens a window, the fridge is automatically powered down on check-out, and the rooms feature an intelligent switch with integrated thermostat to control all. In this extract, the expert panel discusses the barriers to the widespread use of this technology, its potential benefits, and asks who are the drivers of change with regards to the design, development and delivery teams.

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