Smart Home Field Test – Investigation of Heating Energy Savings in Residential Buildings

The research study “SmartHome Rösrath” is investigating the use of Smart Home technology to increase energy efficiency in a field study with more than 120 representative households (residential buildings). The selected households are representative in terms of the age structure of the inhabitants and other demographic and psychographic variables and the existing building stock for Germany. These households were equipped with Smart Home systems to control the heating systems (e.g., with remote-controlled radiator-valves, door/window contacts) combined with programmable routines to automatically adjust the settings of the heating systems (e.g., switching off the heating when windows are opened). In the course of the studies, regular interviews and workshops provide valuable insights into the habits of using energy and how energy can been saved by smart technologies. By using an App or a web platform to set up the Smart Home systems, the users take the use of energy back into their hands. As a potential effect to be investigated, energy shall be saved by better heating controls plus a higher awareness for the energy usage, which influences the prospective energy consumption - savings of up to 30 % were noted. Thus, Smart Home systems can make a valuable contribution to increase energy efficiency in the building stock all over Europe.