European smart home market development: Public views on technical and economic aspects across the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy

Smart homes will enable the new services and capabilities offered via smart grids and smart cities to be realized by householders. Yet, whilst there is a wealth of research on smart grids’ contribution to achieving Europe's ambitious climate change and energy policy goals, smart homes are not studied to the same extent. The aim of this paper is to illustrate differences and similarities in technical and economic drivers and barriers to smart home market development in three European countries characterized by different policy and socio-economic contexts. The research reveals key barriers to the adoption of smart homes such as reliability, data privacy, and costs of smart home technologies across the countries studied. On the other hand, housing stock characteristics, both age of buildings and tenure, reveal deeper cross-country differences in attitudes and perceptions towards these technologies. The research highlights the need for smart home services that go beyond energy consumption and management services. Only when such a holistic approach is adopted, where other applications such as health or security, suited to the householders’ needs and making positive contribution to their daily lives, are enabled, will the benefits of smart homes become clear to the consumer.