You’ve heard the buzz: Smart homes. Connected homes. Home automation. Internet of Things (IoT). What “things” in homes are growing in intelligence? Virtually everything — doorbells, alarms, cameras, shades, appliances, lighting, water bottles, vacuum cleaners, mattresses, toilets, and more.
Today, the smart home device landscape is littered with overused, ill-defined terms and low-quality, low-value products. It’s easy to become jaded listening to the hype. But that doesn’t mean the promise of this emergent technology isn’t real.
Throughout the 20th century and the beginning of this century, there have been three primary (and problematic) ways for homeowners to understand how their home performs:
Like the Internet of the mid-1990s or “green” in the early 2000s, there is certainly a “Wild West” feel to the smart home revolution. But that’s a natural reaction to any seismic shift in the market, especially one that involves rapidly changing consumer preferences and how manufacturers, retailers, and contractors engage their customers.
Ok, not really. But there is some sense of law and order coming to the “Wild West” of smart home devices. Organizations like ENERGY STAR and the Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships (NEEP) are collaborating with the smart home industry to establish voluntary standards and develop frameworks to define the boundaries of home energy management systems (HEMS) and other systems.
For example, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency describes ENERGY STAR certified smart thermostats as delivering three key benefits:
Most smart thermostats provide actionable information for a homeowner to easily control their home’s equipment, and many also have the ability to learn occupant behavior and make adjustments without homeowner intervention. NEEP describes smart home energy devices as having 4 key functionalities:
These functionalities are critical to modernize our nation’s electrical grid and reliably manage supply and demand, while reducing costs for both homeowners and utilities.
Yes, your home is your castle — and security systems, alarms, door locks, and video doorbells are great to protect that castle. But Pearl’s primary focus is on the more familial features of a home — a place that is comfortable, healthy, and affordable to operate. To that end, Pearl recognizes the value of smart home devices and systems that directly or indirectly relate to a home’s:
We engage, educate and communicate with homeowners on the value of working with high-quality contractors and the importance of investing in high-performing goods and services like insulation, air sealing, heating and cooling equipment, mechanical ventilation, and more.
Smart home devices are no different. Devices that are better than average, more “intelligent” and/or have a greater impact on home performance are recognized by Pearl’s Scoring System and will help a home progress from Silver, to Gold, to Platinum. Pearl’s minimum “intelligence test” for a smart home device is that it must:
From there, Pearl recognizes additional smart features such as active control, monitoring, reporting, and interconnectivity with the grid.
The vision of the “home of the future” remains just that — something on the horizon, part mirage and part reality. But the next steps are clear, if uneven. Pearl will continue to work with homeowners, well-qualified members of the Pearl Network (contractors, builders, real estate agents, appraisers, raters, and inspectors) as well as our national Pearl partners to advance the understanding and adoption of high-performing home features — including the emerging smart technology that will transform how we design, construct, maintain, and improve our families’ homes.
Pearl Certification is transforming the housing market. We’re making a visible difference nationwide for homeowners and the businesses that serve them.
