Smart Homes for Sustainable and Independent Living: A Panel Discussion

Broader Application Beyond Disabilities

Smart homes also help with elderly care. As the population gets older, more people need support for age-related problems. Elderly people who don't identify as disabled still benefit from enhanced accessibility. For example, a video doorbell lets somebody with slower mobility tell their visitors to wait.

To recognise these broader applications, smart home professionals need to embrace design thinking. As a professional, how can you create accessible and effective solutions for all users?

“Design thinking involves a lot of empathy so you can start to understand your customer’s needs. It’s a skill you should have in your pocket.” - Walt Zerbe

Sustainability in Smart Homes

Energy efficiency is a major benefit of smart home technology – and it’s a big concern for the elderly and others looking to lower bills. When energy prices are high, people can’t afford to waste electricity. 

Smart homes can reduce energy use (and costs). For example, smart thermostats keep homes warm by turning off heating when it’s not needed. 

Smart meters also maximise the efficiency of essential medical equipment. For example, they advise the best times to charge devices for the lowest prices. A smart setup will also enable energy storage solutions for critical equipment (such as breathing apparatus).

Integrating Sustainability and Independent Living

There are dual benefits of a shared infrastructure. Energy-saving technology, like automated lights, make environments more accessible.

“Why not see whether we can use the same smart energy infrastructure to create environments that people can control remotely? So if it's a person who's older and less able, maybe they don't want to be turning the lights on and off every five minutes or leaving them on, but if there's a smart infrastructure in there that can turn it off when they leave the room, it saves energy, but then also it means that they don't have to go back in, turn the lights off themselves. If there's somebody who's a little bit unsteady on their feet, they might trip and fall. So you're reducing risk, reducing energy consumption.” - Paul Doyle

Challenges and Considerations for Integrators

Integrators need to collaborate with occupational therapists and caregivers for effective systems. However, there’s a disconnect. Not all therapists and healthcare workers understand the technology. Therefore, they don’t know how it will help. Equally, some installers aren’t as aware of accessibility as they should be. 

Integrators, occupational therapists, carers and – most importantly – the disabled and elderly smart home users have to work together. Each user has specific needs, so integrators must customise solutions. You can only create a bespoke system if you understand the needs of who’ll be using it.

So if a smart home is going to have a touch-based control panel, the installer needs to make sure their client has the dexterity to use it.

Financial and Policy Support for Broader Access 

Disabled people hold significant buying power but they're underserved.

“The purple pound (the spending power of people with a wide range of physical challenges) runs into the billions annually” - Paul Doyle

The wider rollout of smart homes for independent living requires government backing. Funding and increased awareness of support will help more access smart home technology.

Future Pathways and Opportunities

There are many opportunities to use smart home technology to create sustainable independent living solutions. But more work needs to be done to roll this out widely. 

More training will make a difference. Integrators need ongoing training in empathy, design thinking and how to collaborate with health professionals.

“Integrators are going to need to have empathy and design thinking. They’ll need to be able to work with other trades like caregivers and occupational therapists.” - Walt Zerbe

With the right training, we can make accessible smart homes more widely available. 

Want to look further ahead? Advancements like AI could support independence. At the moment, there’s no practical mechanism for delivery but AI could help people with dementia live independently for longer. Once we’ve worked out how to harness its potential, it will change lives.