HOME AUTOMATION: THE SMART HOME - Dossier #20 - L'Esprit Sorcier

The concept of the smart home, often perceived as futuristic, has already materialized, having its origins in the 1980s when computing began integrating into daily life, leading to terms like Minitel. With the subsequent proliferation of the internet, Wi-Fi, and connected networks, modern homes possess increasing capabilities for automation and intelligence. However, the most significant contemporary value of home automation extends beyond mere novelty; it primarily focuses on optimizing the management of household energy resources.

The initial stages of this technological integration were marked by early computerization efforts. This foundational work set the stage for the advanced connectivity seen today, where automation allows homes to become increasingly responsive to inhabitants' needs and environmental conditions, shifting focus toward efficiency.

In an intelligent home equipped with a home automation system, the day begins seamlessly. As the alarm is set to sound, the house simultaneously awakens: shutters open automatically to allow natural light inside. Despite the early morning chill, inhabitants do not need to leave a warm bed, as the heating system activated prior to the wake-up call, raising the internal temperature by 3 degrees throughout the residence.

The bathroom is prepared specifically for the occupants, ensuring the correct volume of water is heated for the shower and that towels are already warm. This sequence creates a gentle awakening experience that continues beyond the morning routine.

It is called a gentle awakening and it does not stop there.

Upon returning from work, remote preparation of the home environment is possible via a smartphone application. This ensures that upon arrival, the house is comfortably ready, with presence-activated lights gently illuminating spaces, the heating already at the desired temperature, and ambient music starting in the living room. This level of integration demonstrates the chic and practical nature of modern domotics.

A common misconception is that a master device commands all connected appliances. In reality, home automation operates without a singular chief. Instead, control is managed through interfaces—whether a wall-mounted tactile box, tablets, or smartphones—which connect virtually to various device groups, such as lighting, shutters, or heating, allowing supervision of each subsystem.

In home automation, there is no chief at all, only a message.

The interface transmits requests across the network using three primary pathways. The system decides the most appropriate route based on the connected devices and infrastructure available within the residence.

In the context of heating, the message is directed to the thermostat, which, unlike older models, is intelligent. It incorporates temperature sensors alongside presence sensors to detect user habits, such as leaving for work or returning home. These movements are recorded in a schedule, allowing the thermostat to instruct radiators to stop or restart heating, thus facilitating energy savings.

This orchestration means that messages emitted by one device are captured by others, but only the concerned appliances react. This cooperative system, while complex due to the sheer number of communicating sensors, ensures that tasks are completed efficiently, closing the loop by informing the interface, which then notifies the user. Ultimately, domotics enhances comfort while driving energy efficiency.

The installation of comfort within homes is a gradual process linked directly to technological progress, extending the technological race initiated in the 18th century with the discovery of electricity. In the 18th century, urban nights were poorly lit, relying on sparse street lamps. This changed in the 1820s with the introduction of gas lighting, engineered by Philippe Lebon, which required heating coal from mines to high temperatures.

This gas infrastructure modernized cities and provided motive force and heat, although it sometimes caused deadly theater fires. Gradually, gas integrated into bourgeois and then more modest households via distribution pipes and reduced-price subscriptions, serving not only for lighting but also for cooking and water heating, though rural areas remained reliant on traditional candles.

The late 19th century ushered in the second industrial revolution with the arrival of electricity. Two objects fundamentally altered daily life: the telephone, attributed to Graham Bell, enabling instant long-distance conversation, and the incandescent light bulb, popularized by figures like Thomas Edison. Electricity distribution initially favored affluent areas, theaters, and large stores, but soon reached popular sectors.

In the early 20th century, electricity entered domestic chores. Following World War I, industrialists capitalized on women returning to domestic roles by marketing appliances like vacuum cleaners, washing machines, and refrigerators, arguing that mechanization would reduce the time and hardship of housework. The first Household Arts Fair in Paris in 1923 saw consistent success until the early 1980s.

During the 1970s, France lagged in modernization, particularly in its telephone network. Meanwhile, engineers developed large calculating machines—the first computers—which gradually became smaller and more powerful, eventually fitting on a desk as microcomputers. While businesses adopted these, televisions spread rapidly in homes. Engineers then sought to integrate computing into the home, giving birth to the term 'domotique,' aiming for centralized management of heating or automatic shutter closing. This automation initially faced public apprehension.

Progress in domotics was marked by three major events: the computer becoming a home entertainment tool, the arrival of the internet in the mid-1990s enabling borderless communication and focus on connected objects, and successive oil crises that necessitated better building insulation to limit heating use. This last factor gave concrete meaning to domotics: using communicating devices to monitor and manage energy.

Since the 2000s, wireless technologies like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth have flourished alongside component miniaturization and the rise of mobile devices and touchscreens. These advancements have made domotic devices significantly more powerful and user-friendly, expanding applications beyond energy savings into security, health, air quality, and assistance for vulnerable individuals.

Domotics increasingly permeates daily life, addressing critical areas like air quality management. For instance, responding to external pollution, the system must balance the need to ventilate with maintaining thermal comfort—the temperature at which individuals feel best. Poor indoor air quality can stem from external pollution drawn in or internal sources like occupant CO2 emissions or off-gassing from paints and furniture.

To ensure constant air renewal, controlled mechanical ventilation (CMV) systems are employed. The double-flow CMV extracts polluted air (from kitchens/bathrooms) and uses its heat to warm incoming fresh outside air before distributing it to living areas like bedrooms and lounges. An alternative, single-flow CMV, pressurizes the house with outside air, forcing stale air out through pre-designed openings above windows.

Intelligent ventilation adapts based on sensor readings. By measuring CO2 levels or volatile organic compound (VOC) rates, the system modulates its flow rate, avoiding unnecessary ventilation when air quality is already optimal or when thermal conditions require heat retention.

The source of household water—city supply or collected rainwater—highlights consumption issues, as individuals use significant amounts of potable water daily when recycled water could suffice for certain tasks. A domotic house not connected to the main grid collects rainwater. Sensors monitor usage, and weather forecasts help anticipate supply levels, allowing for better planning.

Managing heating efficiently—avoiding heating empty spaces or maintaining temperature while ventilating—is simplified via smartphone applications. Users can couple heating objects with their devices to easily change setpoints or schedule activation for specific durations, such as instructing the system to run for three hours while away. Thermostats further enhance this by learning user habits over several weeks via an auto-learning mechanism, eventually managing temperature autonomously and potentially saving up to 30 % of energy.

Securing a domotic building involves discreet sensors placed in windows, walls, and often overlooked areas. Intrusion detection relies on volumetric sensors, which identify a certain mass and height within a room, often based on thermal variations in the air. More specialized thermal cameras can produce images even in complete darkness. Furthermore, sensors on doors and windows serve dual purposes: detecting intrusion and signaling when a window is open, which negates the need to maintain heating in that zone.

Given the increasing elderly population, domotics plays a role in safety, as the home is the primary site for accidents. Existing commercial products use light sensors to determine if an elderly person remains inactive all day. Basic contact sensors track movement between rooms, like entering the bathroom. Prototypes also count occupants and detect postures (sitting, standing, lying down) to eventually identify critical events like falls.

Achieving energy self-sufficiency requires production systems, such as photovoltaic panels or wind turbines, and adequate storage solutions, typically electrical batteries. However, a major challenge remains: storing energy effectively for an entire year, as cloudy periods severely impact solar production, necessitating continued reliance on the public grid or diversification of energy sources.

The prospect of a fully automated home is appealing, but questions arise regarding whether domotics risks controlling daily life, infringing upon privacy, or exacerbating social inequalities. Experts suggest that because homes have long lifespans (50 to 70 years), the technology integrated must be durable, though specific components will inevitably appear and disappear. A focus exists on developing wireless, battery-free sensors that capture minimal energy to make necessary decisions, leading to genuine consumption savings.

Experts note that technologies rarely induce reasonable behavior; instead, they often foster a forced behavior concerning the environment and objects. Therefore, it is unlikely that a domotic house will inherently be virtuous regarding waste production, especially if planned obsolescence is a factor. If technical objects become deeply invested in domotics, increased consumption of consumables is likely.

The technologies always have the virtue of creating a kind of behavior that forces us regarding the environment, regarding objects, regarding others.

Technologies designed to serve often end up making users more autonomous by encouraging them to delegate responsibility. This delegation of initiative, under the pretext of peace of mind, leads to letting objects dictate what is best for the individual, resulting in spontaneous behaviors regulated by technology. There are definite points of no return where reversing course is impractical, yet often undesirable.

Collected data must be assessed for privacy implications. If data is intended to remain private, connection might be avoided. While remote access data is often transient, security measures are paramount to prevent hacking of essential operational data. Providers must explicitly detail in terms and conditions if data is used for purposes beyond immediate piloting. Ultimately, the agreement between the object and the person is crucial.

It is noted that the user of domotic systems might consume more energy overall due to the proliferation of costly devices, potentially negating the efficiency gains compared to non-connected users. The acceptance of terms and conditions, often done without reading the lengthy recommendations, allows engineers to claim due diligence, placing the onus on the user for accepting the terms.