Smart Home Compendium

The home, built to provide people with a safe place to relax, sleep and entertain, has undergone significant change in recent centuries. A typical 21st century house has lots of devices and appliances which, when used properly, can make life easier for its occupants, maximising their comfort and minimising their energy consumption. If these devices and appliances are too demanding, however, it quickly makes the occupants want to return to the “good old days”.

Features of a modern home

• Access, security & safety
  
• Energy management
  
• Lighting
  
• Multimedia
  
• Shading
  
• Temperature Control
  

The features of a Bespoke Future Smart Home can be fully or partially used. Some features may be more or less appropriate for your home, depending on where in the world you are located.

Fortunately, lighting has evolved from the original tungsten filament. However, its development has been mixed, with some lighting inventions that could not be used in private homes until today’s modern LED technology. Halogen bulbs and fluorescent lamps are a thing of the past.

Lighting is important – it can illuminate our living space, help us to work and even create special moods. Lighting in all its forms and natural occurrences significantly affects our emotions and our mood. Coloured lighting can boost creativity and provide positive energy.

Probably the most effective lighting is that which best mimics sunlight. Even if artificial lighting can never quite replicate the light spectrum of the sun, it does offer many possibilities.

In this regard, the humble lightbulb has set the bar very high. When choosing lighting for your home, remember that it’s not just about how a light looks, but also the quality of light it emits. The CRI (Colour Rendering Index) should be as high as possible. For this reason, Loxone LED products have always focused on warm white light with a very high, affordable CRI.

In a smart home, it should always be possible to keep an eye on what is happening outside your front door at anytime and from anywhere. A fully integrated video intercom system helps fulfil this need. This allows instant notifications when someone rings the doorbell. You can then see and speak with whoever is at the door if you would like to do so.

It is important to be able to control the heat source in order to optimally control energy levels at any time of the year, day and night. Often, there are days in winter when snow blankets the ground, yet the sun is shining brightly, and the room warms up, so there’s no need to have the heating on. Other times, when the weather is damp and gloomy, the outside temperature may be higher, yet the heating is needed.

The outside temperature should play a minor role in controlling the supply of heat. We should no longer be investing in heat sources that cannot be controlled. The easiest way to control a heat source is to adjust the flow temperature of individual heating circuits. Temperatures can be adjusted using valves. The room requiring the most heat determines the flow temperature.