Abstract
Homeowners are often frustrated in trying to understand and control the use of energy within the home especially in tracking monthly usage and the impact of a change in habit on their bills. Recent advances in computing power and sensing technologies required to implement a smart home energy management system mean small, low price and sustainable devices are available for wider adoption. But how ready are homeowners to allow these devices into their homes to collect personal data? This study attempted to understand users’ perceptions and requirements of smart home systems in order that these may be more readily integrated into new and existing homes. A quantitative approach using self-administered questionnaires was distributed to a random selection of respondents falling within the sample population of households who have access to the internet at home within the Republic of South Africa. Conclusions are that homeowners need to be aware that if they do not implement smart home technology to improve their home management, they will in all likelihood end up paying more or even facing resource shortages due to the inefficiencies of the current methodologies used for managing their homes.
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Bradfield, K., Allen, C. (2019). User Perceptions of and Needs for Smart Home Technology in South Africa. In: Mutis, I., Hartmann, T. (eds) Advances in Informatics and Computing in Civil and Construction Engineering. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00220-6_31
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00220-6_31
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