What is a smart home and what are the benefits?

A smart home means your home has a smart home system that connects with your appliances to automate specific tasks and is typically remotely controlled. You can use a smart home system to program your sprinklers, set and monitor your home security system and cameras, or control appliances like your refrigerator or air conditioning and heating.

At Constellation we love how energy-efficient smart homes are, because they save you precious time and money while also conserving energy!

What are the benefits of a smart home?

Many Americans are looking into smart homes ideas, how smart homes work, or specific task automation for benefits like these:

Smart homes allow you to have greater control of your energy use, all while automating things like adjusting temperature, turning on and off lights, opening and closing window treatments, and adjusting irrigation based on the weather.

Smart homes provide insights into energy use that can help you become more energy efficient and mindful of ecological factors.

Smart homes can pinpoint areas where you’re using more energy than you need to, allowing you to cut back in those areas and save money.

And while it might sound like just another passing fad to some, the smart home—like the smartphone—is here to stay. With over 80 million smart home devices delivered worldwide in 2016, some predict that number will grow to over 130 million smart home devices by the end of 2017.

Are smart home devices energy efficient?

Smart home devices are not always energy efficient, but most can be utilized in ways that help you conserve energy. When you have smart home appliances, lights, or a smart thermostat, you control when and how these will turn on and function. Therefore, you have more control over your energy usage and are more likely to change your energy consumption habits.

What is smart home or building (home automation or domotics)?

A smart home is a residence that uses internet-connected devices to enable the remote monitoring and management of appliances and systems, such as lighting and heating.

Smart home technology, also often referred to as home automation or domotics (from the Latin "domus" meaning home), provides homeowners security, comfort, convenience and energy efficiency by allowing them to control smart devices, often by a smart home app on their smartphone or other networked device. A part of the internet of things (IoT), smart home systems and devices often operate together, sharing consumer usage data among themselves and automating actions based on the homeowners' preferences.

Examples of smart home technologies Nearly every aspect of life where technology has entered the domestic space (lightbulbs, dishwashers and so on) has seen the introduction of a smart home alternative: Smart TVs connect to the internet to access content through applications, such as on-demand video and music. Some smart TVs also include voice or gesture recognition.

In addition to being able to be controlled remotely and customized, smart lighting systems, such as Hue from Philips Lighting Holding B.V., can detect when occupants are in the room and adjust lighting as needed. Smart lightbulbs can also regulate themselves based on daylight availability.

Smart thermostats, such as Nest from Nest Labs Inc., come with integrated Wi-Fi, allowing users to schedule, monitor and remotely control home temperatures. These devices also learn homeowners' behaviors and automatically modify settings to provide residents with maximum comfort and efficiency. Smart thermostats can also report energy use and remind users to change filters, among other things.

Using smart locks and garage-door openers, users can grant or deny access to visitors. Smart locks can also detect when residents are near and unlock the doors for them.

With smart security cameras, residents can monitor their homes when they are away or on vacation. Smart motion sensors are also able to identify the difference between residents, visitors, pets and burglars, and can notify authorities if suspicious behavior is detected.

Pet care can be automated with connected feeders. Houseplants and lawns can be watered by way of connected timers.

Kitchen appliances of all sorts are available, including smart coffee makers that can brew a fresh cup automatically at a programmed time; smart refrigerators that keep track of expiration dates, make shopping lists or even create recipes based on ingredients currently on hand; slower cookers and toasters; and, in the laundry room, washing machines and dryers.

Household system monitors may, for example, sense an electric surge and turn off appliances or sense water failures or freezing pipes and turn off the water so the basement doesn't flood, for example. Philips Hue smart light kit

Smart home pros and cons One of the most touted benefits of home automation is providing peace of mind to homeowners, allowing them to monitor their homes remotely, countering dangers such as a forgotten coffee maker left on or a front door left unlocked. Domotics are also beneficial for the elderly, providing monitoring that can help seniors to remain at home comfortably and safely, rather than moving to a nursing home or requiring 24/7 home care. Smart homes can accommodate user preferences for convenience. For example, user's can program their garage door to open, the lights to go on, the fireplace to turn on and their favorite tunes to play upon their arrival. Home automation also helps consumers improve efficiency. Instead of leaving the air conditioning on all day, a smart home system can learn behaviors and make sure the house is cooled down by the time homeowners arrive home from work. The same goes for appliances. With a smart irrigation system, the lawn will only be watered when needed and with the exact amount of water necessary. With home automation, energy, water and other resources are used more efficiently, which helps save both natural resources and money for the consumer. However, home automation systems have struggled to become mainstream, in part due to their technical nature. A drawback of smart homes is their perceived complexity; some people have difficulty with technology or will give up on it with the first inconvenience. Smart home manufacturers and alliances are working on reducing complexity and improving the user experience to make it enjoyable and beneficial for users of all types and technical levels. For home automation systems to be truly effective, devices must be interoperable regardless of manufacturer, and use the same protocol or, at least, complementary ones. As it is a relatively new market, there is no gold standard for home automation yet. However, standard alliances are partnering with manufacturers and protocols to ensure interoperability and a seamless user experience. Another major issue is smart home security. A 2016 NTT Data Corp. report found that 80% of U.S. consumers are concerned about the security of their smart home data. If hackers are able to infiltrate a smart device, they could potentially turn off the lights and alarms and unlock the doors, leaving a home defenseless to a break-in. Further, hackers could potentially access the homeowner's network, leading to worse attacks or data exfiltration. In October 2016, the Mirai IoT botnet was able to bring down parts of the internet in a series of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks using badly secured cameras, DVRs and routers as entry points. In addition to home security, many smart home opponents worry about data privacy. The NTT Data report found 73% of consumers are concerned about the privacy of the data shared by their smart home devices. While smart home device and platform manufacturers may collect consumer data to better tailor their products or offer new and improved services to customers, trust and transparency are critical to manufacturers looking to gain new customers.

How smart homes work/smart home implementation Newly built homes are often constructed with smart home infrastructure in place. Older homes, on the other hand, can be retrofitted with smart technologies. While many smart home systems still run on X10 or Insteon, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi have grown in popularity. Zigbee and Z-Wave are two of the most common home automation communications protocols in use today. Both use mesh network technologies, short-range, low-power radio signals to connect smart home systems. Though both target the same smart home applications, Z-Wave has a range of 30 meters to Zigbee's 10 meters, with Zigbee often perceived as the more complex of the two. Zigbee chips are available from multiple companies, while Z-Wave chips are only available from Sigma Designs. A smart home is not a collection of disparate smart devices and appliances, but ones that work together to create a remotely controllable network. All devices are controlled by a master home automation controller, often called a smart home hub. The smart home hub is a hardware device that acts as the central point of the smart home system and is able to sense, process data and communicate wirelessly. It combines all of the disparate apps into a single smart home app that can be controlled remotely by homeowners. Examples of smart home hubs include Amazon Echo, Google Home, Insteon Hub Pro, Samsung SmartThings and Wink Hub. Some smart home systems can be created from scratch, for example, using a Raspberry Pi or other prototyping board. Others can be purchased as a bundled smart home kit -- also known as a smart home platform -- that contains the pieces needed to start a home automation project. In simple smart home scenarios, events can be timed or triggered. Timed events are based on a clock, for example, lowering the blinds at 6:00 while triggered events depend on actions in the automated system; for example, when the owner's smartphone approaches the door, the smart lock unlocks and the smart lights go on. Machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) are becoming increasingly popular in smart home systems, allowing home automation applications to adapt to their environments. For example, voice-activated systems, such as Amazon Echo or Google Home, contain virtual assistants that learn and personalize the smart home to the residents' preferences and patterns.

Smart buildings While every smart home is a smart building, not every smart building is a smart home. Enterprise, commercial, industrial and residential buildings of all shapes and sizes -- including offices, skyscrapers, apartment buildings, and multi-tenant offices and residences -- are deploying IoT technologies to improve building efficiency, reduce energy costs and environmental impact, and ensure security, as well as improve occupant satisfaction. Many of the same smart technologies used in the smart home are deployed in smart buildings, including lighting, energy, heating and air conditioning, and security and building access systems. For example, a smart building can reduce energy costs using sensors that detect how many occupants are in a room. The temperature can automatically adjust, putting cool air on if sensors detect a full conference room, or turning the heat down if everyone in the office has gone home for the day. Smart buildings can also connect to the smart grid. Here, smart building components and the electric grid can "talk" and "listen" to each other. With this technology, energy distribution can be managed efficiently, maintenance can be handled proactively and power outages can be responded to more quickly. Beyond these benefits, smart buildings can provide building owners and managers the benefit of Predictive maintenance. Janitors, for example, can refill restroom supplies when usage sensors monitor the soap or paper towel dispensers are low. Or maintenance and failures can be predicted on building refrigeration, elevators and lighting systems.

A Guide to Smart Homes in 2022

Tour Our Smart Home

Want to see a smart home in action? Tour our virtual smart home and see how its products all work together seamlessly to create a house that adjusts to your needs automatically. All of the below devices can be commanded using your voice alone through a voice assistant, either Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri or Microsoft Cortana. Here are some of our favorite smart home devices:

Smart Light Bulbs

Smart light bulbs can be set onto schedules or even synced with the GPS on your phone or the sunrise and sunset.

With dimmable, LED bulbs that you can adjust to over 16 million different colors, smart bulbs last much longer than incandescent bulbs and are a lot more fun as well. After customizing your lighting, you can create scenes, groups of bulbs that you’ve adjusted to your liking, so that you can easily access them later.

Popular smart bulb brands: LIFX, Philips Hue, Bulbrite, Sylvania, Wyze, Cree, eufy, TP-Link

Average cost: $32

Product spotlight: Philips Hue White and Color Bulb

Philips Hue is probably the most recognizable lighting brand, and they have a ton of different smart lighting to offer. This white and color bulb has 16 million different color options and is also dimmable, so you can create the exact lighting you want in your home. You’ll also be able to set your lighting onto schedules, group multiple customized bulbs into scenes for easy access, and even sync your lighting with the sunrise and sunset, if you want! Or, hook it up with the GPS on your phone so your lights turn off automatically when you leave the house and vice versa.

Plus, Philips Hue works with products from Nest, Vivint, and SimpliSafe, allowing for convenient home automations. As far as voice assistants go, we controlled our Philips Hue lighting with Google Assistant, Alexa and even Siri. Note that you’ll need the Hue Hub to use the White and Color Bulb, which works using Zigbee protocol. Unlike incandescent bulbs, the Philips Hue White and Color is LED, meaning it uses much less energy. Hue has a ton of smart bulbs to choose from, like the Decorative Candle, Bloom Lamp, Bar Light and more.

Smart Plugs

If you’re just starting out with your smart home, smart plugs will be a godsend.

They can turn any appliance that uses 1,800 watts or less into a WiFi-connected device, ideal for small appliances like flat irons or space heaters. That means that you’ll be able to turn these appliances off and on using your voice as well as create schedules and scenes.

Popular smart plug brands: iHome, TP-Link, Aukey, Amazon, Wemo, iDevices, eufy

Average cost: $29

Smart Security Systems

Smart security systems ensure that you’ll always stay on top of your home’s security. With WiFi-connected sensors, you’ll be alerted if any of your alarms go off when your security system is armed via a mobile notification.

From there, you’ll be able to check in and livestream footage, if your system includes a camera.

ADT Video Package Frontpoint Customized System Vivint Basic Security System Hub/ Base Station No Yes No Panel No No Yes Keypad Yes Yes No Motion Sensor Yes Yes Yes Entry Sensor Yes Yes Yes Recessed Entry Sensor No No No Garage Door Sensor No No No Glass Break Sensor Yes Yes Yes Keyring Remote Yes Yes No Smart Lock Yes No No Alarm Yes No No Indoor Camera Yes Yes Yes Video Doorbell Yes Yes Yes Radio No Yes No Smoke and C.O Monitor No No Yes Price $773 $630 $844

Popular smart security brands: Frontpoint, ADT, Vivint, Ring, SimpliSafe, abode

Average cost: $400

Product spotlight: Ring

Ring Alarm is an incredibly affordable, DIY smart home security system. The Security Kit our experts tested included a base station, keypad, contact sensor, motion detector, and range extender, which we paired with the Ring Stickup Cam Wired and the Ring Video Doorbell 2. A huge advantage of Ring is that users can pay nothing monthly and would still be able to livestream footage, receive notifications and control their devices remotely, which isn’t always the case for smart home brands. Ring offers optional 24/7 professional monitoring and cellular backup for only $20 a month or $200 a year, one of the lowest prices around. Their products work with both Alexa and Google Assistant plus IoT devices from Dome, Ecolink, First Alert, GE and Leviton, allowing you to customize your smart home to your liking.

Everything will be easily accessible via the Ring— Always Home app, highly-rated by both iPhone and Android users alike. Installation is easy DIY, making Ring super affordable from setup to everyday usage. They also make a number of indoor and outdoor cameras and video doorbells which will easily integrate with Ring’s sensors, making Ring a one-stop shop for smart home security.

Smart Security Cameras

How useful are security cameras if you can’t actually see their footage? With smart security cameras, you’ll be able to check in and livestream footage anytime, anywhere from your mobile application. You can also show your footage on a smart display, Chromecast, Fire TV, or Apple TV, depending on its make, and review cloud storage as well. Some smart security cameras even have person detection so you’ll only be notified when it detects a person, but more advanced cameras have facial recognition, allowing you to name faces it’s seen multiple times for even more specific notifications.

Wireless Plug-In Price abode Cam No Yes $112.00 abode iota No Yes $299.00 ADT Indoor No Yes N/A Amazon Cloud Cam No Yes $119.99 Arlo Pro 2 Yes Yes $219.99 Arlo Ultra Yes No $200.00 Arlo Q Yes No $399.99 Blink Indoor Yes No $99.00 Blink XT Yes No $119.99 Brinks Home Indoor No Yes N/A Canary All-In-One Yes No $109.00 Canary Flex Yes No $169.00 Canary View No Yes $49.00 Fortress Indoor No Yes $79.99 Frontpoint Indoor Camera Yes Yes $99.99 Honeywell Lyric C2 No Yes $90.00 iCamera Keep Pro No Yes $100.00 iSmartSafe Indoor Yes No $69.99 Lifeshiled Indoor No Yes N/A Link Interactive V522IR Yes No $104.99 Logitech Circle 2 Yes Yes $179.99 Lorex Super HD 4MP Camera No Yes $139.99 Nest Cam Indoor No Yes $99.00 Nest Cam Battery Yes No $179.99 Nest Cam with Floodlight No Yes $279.99 Netatmo Welcome Indoor Yes No $200.00 Night Owl HD Wired Bullet Camera No Yes $349.99 for 4 Ring Stick Up Cam Wired No Yes $180.00 Scout Indoor No Yes $99.00 Swann Thermal Sensing Camera No Yes $199.99 for two Tend Lynx Secure Indoor No Yes $60.00 Tend Secure Lynx Pro No Yes $150.00 Vivint Indoor No Yes N/A Wyze Cam No Yes $29.99 Wyze Cam Pan No Yes $33.99 YI Home Security Camera No Yes $31.00

Popular smart security camera brands: Ring, Nest, Wyze, Blink

Average cost: $155

Product spotlight: Wyze Cam

At only $29.99, the Wyze Cam is an incredible little device that doesn’t sacrifice quality for its shockingly low price. It has the industry standard of 1080p HD, making for a super clear shot, plus we were able to zoom in eight times to capture those tiny details. The camera also has excellent infrared night vision, two-way audio which let us speak to whoever we were livestreaming, plus integrations with Alexa, Google Assistant and IFTTT. Storage is done through a micro-SD card, sold separately, plus Wyze gave us 14 days of cloud storage on the house! Cloud storage is usually an additional monthly cost, but not with Wyze. The camera even recognized our existing smoke and CO alarms so we got mobile notifications when they went off. Overall, this plug-in indoor camera is high-quality, low price, and an excellent addition to our smart home. The company also makes security sensors, smart plugs, smart bulbs, and more, making it a robust smart home hub.

Smart Thermostats

Aside from being able to control your home’s temperature remotely and set it onto schedules, many smart thermostats also have sensing for movement and occupancy, meaning they’ll adjust based on your location and even if you’re awake or asleep.

You can also set up geofencing with some smart thermostats, meaning they’ll adjust based on your location by using the GPS in your mobile device. Many smart thermostats can save you money on heating and cooling costs compared to regular thermostats.

Popular smart thermostat brands: Nest, Honeywell, Kono

Average cost: $160

Smart Smoke and CO Sensors

If your smoke alarm goes off and no one is home to hear it, is it really that useful? With smart smoke and CO detectors, you’ll always get notified if there were any huge increases in temperature, or if dangerous levels of smoke and/or CO are detected. If you already have existing smoke and CO detectors that aren’t connected to the Internet, there are also smoke and CO listeners that’ll alert you if any of your alarms go off, a cost-effective solution to get smart environmental monitoring.

Popular smoke and CO detector brands: Nest, First Alert, Kidde, Samsung SmartThings

Average cost: $44

Smart Flood Sensors

Floods can cause thousands of dollars worth of damages to your home, which is why it’s best to catch them early with a flood or water leak sensor. Placed near anywhere that water could leak, like near a dishwasher or washing machine, you’ll get a notification if the sensor detects water so you can fix the problem early.

Popular flood sensor brands: Ring, Honeywell, Samsung SmartThings, Kangaroo, First Alert

Average cost: $20

Smart Freeze Sensors

If your pipes freeze it could cause them to burst, resulting in, you guessed it, a flood. Fortunately for you, there are WiFi-connected freeze sensors that will alert you if temperatures reach a certain level.

Popular freeze sensor brands: SimpliSafe, Ring

Average cost: $40

Smart Speakers

If you’ve ever wanted to hit pause without getting out your phone, smart speakers are for you. You’ll be able to play music, audiobooks, and podcasts using your voice alone. Plus, smart speakers let you control other connected devices hands-free. Some even double as a timer or clock.

Popular smart speaker brands: Amazon, Google Nest

Average cost: $109

Smart Locks

Smart locks are super useful. Aside from being able to control them remotely, users will also be able to create passcodes for specific periods of time to let people in when they’re not home. This is particularly handy if you have a dog walker, house sitter or babysitter that needs to be let in in a way much safer than hiding a key under the mat. You’ll be able to see your lock’s activity and some locks can even be opened with voice commands!

Popular smart lock brands: Kwikset, Yale, Schlage, August

Average cost: $150

Video Doorbells

Video doorbells are essentially cameras designed specifically for your doors, allowing you to see your guests and speak to them through two-way audio. The best video doorbells have person detection, leading to super helpful notifications and preventing false notifications from cars, animals, and other moving objects. Some video doorbells require an existing doorbell and chime setup, while others are totally wireless with no installation requirements.

Nest Doorbell Ring Video Doorbell 2 Ring Video Doorbell Pro Video quality 960x1280p HD 1080p HD 1080p HD Field of View 145 160 160 Field of Zoom 6x n/a digital zoom Two-Way Audio Yes Yes Yes Infrared Night Vision Yes Yes Yes Local Storage No Yes Yes Cloud Storage Yes Yes Yes Subscription Required for Storage? Yes Yes Yes Smart Platform Integrations Google Assistant Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant Person Detection Yes plus familiar face alerts with Nest Aware No No

Popular video doorbell brands: eufy, Arlo, Ring, Nest, SimpliSafe, Vivint, SkyBell

Average cost: $190

Product spotlight: eufy Security Video Doorbell

The eufy Security Video Doorbell has the highest video quality of any video doorbell we’ve reviewed, 2K HDR with distortion correction. Requiring an existing doorbell setup, this camera has person detection, so it only notified us when it detected a person and ignored movement from cars, animals, and other inanimate moving objects. In fact, it even sent us a screenshot of the person it detected so we didn’t have to livestream the footage and check. Aside from that, the eufy Security Video Doorbell works with both Alexa and Google Assistant, has infrared night vision, two-way audio, plus 4 GB of local storage, and a wide, 160-degree field of view. Plus, at $159.99, it’s slightly cheaper than the industry average.

Smart Displays

Finally, smart displays are tablets that connect all of your IoT devices and can also play TV shows, movies, and the like. Amazon’s version of the smart display is their Echo Show devices, while Google’s version is their Nest Hubs.

Popular smart display brands: Lenovo, Amazon, Google

Average cost: $184

Product Spotlight: Amazon Echo Show 8

The Echo Show 8, which has Alexa built-in, is an eight-in touch screen display with two-inch speakers and microphones. Using the Echo Show 8, we were able to access over 100,000 Alexa skills, which included everything from playing music from Amazon Music and Spotlight, watching Prime Video and Hulu, Skyping with friends and shopping on, you guessed it, Amazon. In particular, the Echo Show came in handy when we were cooking. Not only was it convenient to set up a time hands-free when we were covered in flour, but we could even tell Alexa to buy any ingredients we forgot. Plus, when all went wrong, we simply told Alexa to order food from Seamless.

To learn about more connected devices, check out our experts’ favorite smart home products.