Smart Home Market Challenges Energy Star Spec, Say EPA Officials Seeking Industry Input
The EPA is encouraging smart home companies to “get in on the ground floor” and consider energy use “from the beginning,” said Abigail Daken, an environmental engineer at the agency. With smart home products gaining popularity, doing such will help…
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manufacturers provide the functions consumers want with the least energy use, she said on an EPA Wednesday webinar. Connectivity within a system is an opportunity for cost savings and better user experience, said Daken. She cited a set-top box that must warm up after a “deep sleep.” In a connected home, it can turn on when the alarm system is disengaged, she said. User experience and energy-saving modes “work better together if occupancy information is shared” in a smart home, she said. The EPA is focusing on occupancy now as the most promising area for savings, and could later add co-optimization of devices, she said. The agency is gathering information from industry on how it would understand the performance of smart home systems. Typically, that process leads to a specification and products could be certified. But Energy Star Lighting Program Manager Taylor Jantz-Sell said the smart home isn't like other Energy Star standard practices for individual product specs because it’s a combination of products, some already Energy Star-certified. It’s a combination of hardware and occupancy data that could be “baked in” to hardware, or located remotely, and automated services working together, she said. “It’s a whole new arena for us,” she said.