The internet is the backbone of everyday life, we use it not only to keep in touch with family and friends, but to watch movies, shop and run our finances. There are however many questions still being asked about how we manage all this data, and how we can best distribute the signals through each room in our homes. The all pervasive nature of the internet and the increasingly reliable wireless networks lead to a critical question - wired or wireless?
Yongchao Huang's recent paper describes Atamate's latest progress in machine learning for the smart home. A set of calculations allows a smart building to quantify the influences of various ambient conditions on the temperature of a room and use them to control a radiator.
Our Senior Data Scientist, Dr Kat Kelly recently showed that rented flats using variable ventilation and direct electrical heating under Atamate smart control delivered better energy efficiency than predicted for heat pump-based systems. We argue that the data shows that automation has been under-valued in planned reforms to the UK building regulations.
The UK government has published a consultation document for its Future Homes policy, which is intended to update the building regulations covering energy efficiency (Part L) and ventilation (Part F) by 2025. Atamate welcomes the aim to cut the energy needs of British housing stock and particularly the preferred approach which prioritises carbon-saving technology, but our view is that the potential of smart building technology is not recognised.
Peaceful retirement
A smart meter will save you the cost of 3½ days of electricity per year. To put it another way, the average home in the UK has an annual energy bill of £1,300, so having a smart meter will save that home £11 per year.
Smart home technology and home automation is terminology that has been around for years and generally conjures up the image of luxury properties with expensive lighting designs, multi-room audio and tablets to control everything. When I joined Atamate, that was the supposition of what our offering was by most of my friends and acquaintances. Many people imagined it was very complicated and you’d need a PhD in Computer Science to be able to use it. The reality is that it’s very flexible, simple to use and affordable. I think the best analogy there is too describe it is the following.