WHEN YOUR HOUSE CHANGES WHILE YOU’RE GONE

Clint walked up to the front door of his house. It was well after dark. He reached out and twisted the knob and the door opened without a key. He knows with absolute certainty that it was locked when he left earlier that day.

Entry and hallway lights, that he remembered turning off that morning, were on as he walked to the kitchen. Reaching the kitchen, he noticed that the blinds on the windows there and on the windows in the adjacent breakfast nook and family room were all closed even though they were open when he rushed out the door to get to work 10 hours ago.

Was all this the work of burglars, picking the lock on the front door, shutting blinds so they’d not be seen, turning on lights and then helping themselves to Clint’s stuff? Is Clint’s place haunted? Has Goldilocks made herself at home?

Fortunately, none of this was due to crooks, ghosts or fairy tale characters! It was all the work of Clint’s “smart” house. In fact, a smart house can help prevent break ins.

Smart homes are starting to become reality. Here are a just few things that are possible with both new construction and by retrofitting an existing house:

• • Door Locks: Electronic locks can operate much like keys on newer cars. Just keep a fob in your pocket – doors can lock with a touch from your finger and unlock automatically as you grab the knob when coming home. Have a visitor staying with you or a house cleaner or contractor coming to work on the house? You can give them a code to punch into a keypad that allows them entry for a certain number of hours or days. After the allotted time frame, the code no longer works. No need to hand out keys and keep track of who all has access to your home.

• • Lights: The bulbs themselves can have little chips that allow them to be programmed to turn on and off at certain times – great for occasions when you arrive home late or when you’re on vacation. With the right bulbs, you can even change the color of the light.

• • Blinds: They can be programmed to open and shut at as needed. For example, your southeast facing family room window shades can be scheduled to open in the morning on clear winter days to let the sun in and provide some passive solar heating. Then, they close automatically to keep heat in when the sun disappears in the early afternoon. Reverse the programming for summer and keep the shades closed in the morning to prevent overheating and then have them open when the windows are in the shade so you can enjoy the great view to the outdoors.

• • Thermostats: Programmable thermostats have been around for a while. The latest versions, like Nest, will even learn your habits and program themselves automatically. Do you always turn the thermostat down before going to bed around 10pm? After a few days, you make walk up to the device and find that it has already lowered the temperature for you. You can also adjust them from your smart phone.

And there is so much more. Smart appliances. Smart garage door openers. Smart sprinkler system that monitor soil moisture and adjust lawn watering schedules to save water.

Voice command for all this stuff is coming soon. The Amazon Echo (aka, Alexa) platform already lets you operate TVs and stereo equipment by voice along with a limited number of Alexa enabled devices. It’s poised to be expanded to other many other items in the near future. Some people may all end up talking to their houses more than to their spouse or kids!

Nevertheless, all is not sweetness and light. There are concerns about security and privacy along with anxieties about competing technology standards.

We’ll be writing more about smart houses in the coming weeks, looking into both exciting possibilities and potential pitfalls. The good, the bad and the ugly will all be covered.