Smart home accessibility is filtering down

When it comes to smart home automation, the consensus has always been that it has been for the upper-income homeowner. Relegated to this category, at least in mindset, thus far the revolution in smart home technology has not yer permeated through to the middle-class.

A combination of high prices — and not enough practicality — meant that for the most part the masses stayed on the sidelines. But technology broadly (in pricing terms as well as incremental breakthroughs) has been following Moore’s law in the sense that it doubles in power and usage every 18 months.

Given this pace of progress, not only has it become increasingly affordable, but in terms of cost savings over time, smart home accessories have become positive from a net present value basis.

In Dubai, technology permeating through to the homeplace meets the objectives of cost-effectiveness and practicality if it can address the issue of energy management. Given that this has become an initiative of the government in recent years, the issue has become all the more paramount.

With recent advancements of thermostats like Google Nest, customers have the advantage of modulating (and moderating) temperature controls on their phone, making it easier to control usage during the peak months of the summer.

More advanced versions of the Nest ecosystem allow for remote handing of water pressure, the timings to set the water heater, the temperature of the refrigerator, as well as the timing and water consumption of wash cycles in the laundry. Whilst this sounds futuristic in the extreme, triggering visions of science fiction movies in certain cases, the reality is that these systems are readily available at a fraction of the price that was prevailing three to four years ago. With the pocket phone becoming the centrepiece of the home, it stands to reason that it becomes the remote control for every day issues such as energy and water management.

Given the rapid rate of urbanisation in Dubai, the pressure on the energy ecosystem is bound to increase. The standard responses by utility providers will always be to increase the price of the same, making it all the more imperative for conservation of energy.

However, it becomes difficult under the conventional set-up with mechanical devices that are preset to temperatures that remain stagnant throughout the day, rather than a dynamic ecosystem that adapts to different times and temperatures. Perhaps more critically, the system (enabled for artificial intelligence) “learns” from the preferred energy usage of the home owner, and adapts accordingly, maximising the trade-off between comfort and costs.

In our experience, the pace of such adoption in Dubai is proliferating at an ever increasing pace. However, the base from which it is expanding remains small.

This is bound to change incrementally over the next few years what consumers need to realise that upfront costs of installation (at a mere fraction of what it was even five years ago) more than pays off for such a system within the first three years. Moreover, given the rapidly expanding base of home ownership in the city, it is inevitable that the adoption of such technology also gathers pace in Dubai.

This is even more so considering the fact that these systems (and perhaps more sophisticated versions thereof as technology continues to improve and scale) will add to the value of the property.

Consumers in Dubai (tenants, homeowners, as well as investors) need to realise that in a maturing real estate market, what will set apart the property will be a system that saves coast over time. Smart home systems go a long way towards achieving that goal, a goal that becomes all the more imperative given the rapid rise of the green energy movement.

By viewing these costs as part of the acquisition of the property, it becomes self evident that the yield on the property increases significantly. In the months and years ahead, residents in Dubai would do well in adopting such technologies.

The writer is Director at Unitas.