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Join NEEP at the 2015 Smart Home Technology conference in Durham, NC! The emergence of new technologies that make the assessment and measurement of the energy use of homes and buildings easier has the potential to be a game-changer for residential energy efficiency.
It is difficult to manage and understand energy use when a household’s total energy consumption is presented as a single number in a monthly bill. However, smart grid technologies including mobile and in-home communication devices can now provide customers with nearly immediate feedback on energy use, helping make energy consumption visible and manageable, and providing additional opportunities for utility programs to incentivize customer energy use.
As home automation systems increase in popular, they enable an increase in comfort, energy savings through intelligent energy management, and enhanced home security. The current Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS) market was valued at $1.5 billion in 2013, and includes utility residential demand response (DR), connected home subscriptions, software services and associated hardware. The top two leading home automation companies combined already have over 2 million customers, demonstrating the HEMS market’s remarkable potential. New companies have entered the arena, hungry for the next set of opportunities revolving around software and bundled service solutions, and the market has expanded in its scope of offerings.
Combining energy monitoring and management with an area network and home control will surely increase efficiencies. North America is expected to be the prime market for Home Energy Management Systems in terms of revenue contribution.