A Prototype of Low-Cost Home Automation System for Energy Savings and Living Comfort

In order to put into practice the objectives proposed by the policy of energy transition towards systems and buildings increasingly electrified, smart and sustainable, the massive digitization of environments and systems in both residential and commercial plays a key role, in view of the ‘internet of things.’ This paper aims to demonstrate the possibility of creating a reliable and robust building automation and monitoring system, maintaining, at the same time, a character of cost-effectiveness essential for a massive spread of these technologies. A case study has been realized by taking as reference a typical home in which smart devices have been placed, aimed at equipment controlling and widespread energy consumption monitoring, both electrical and thermal. The main environmental parameters influencing energy processes are also monitored, such as: position of the windows (open/closed), temperature and humidity of the individual areas air, levels of illuminance and the presence of people in the rooms and in the entire building. These elements were then integrated into the open-source SCADA (or better personal hub) “Home Assistant” and made available on a very simple dashboard, locally accessible through any web browser. As we will see, the complete low-cost smartization of the house brings a considerable advantage on energy savings, as well as an obvious greater comfort for users.