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Tech Take

At a touch of the remote control

tech-take

Home automation is the one of the latest buzzwords in an Indian real estate market that is constantly seeking to differentiate – especially in the luxury or high-end segment where a buyer goes for automated homes, popularly known as e-homes

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Home Automation has emerged to be a recent and ongoing trend among people. ‘Non intelligent homes’ can be integrated with technology, to turn them look smart ones. Imagine being at home or outside, press a key, click a button and get the desired effect inside the four walls where you live. With just click of a button you can switch on your air conditioner even before reaching your home.

Anything and everything can be automated and controlled with just one click. Nothing much to worry if you have left your water geyser on in the mad rush of morning hours, you can switch it off even as sitting miles away.

The popularity of home automation has been increasing greatly in recent years due to much higher affordability and simplicity through smartphone and tablet connectivity. Who does not want to live in the world where things get done conveniently, where luxury is the by-product of technology, and amidst all this life is still too safe and secure. There is no doubt in saying that luxury, convenience, security and lifestyle have today become the key components of necessity.

A single unit and attached to various devices, automated home, popularly known as e-home, is a concept that is fast taking shape in real estate industry. It is the home of the near future. And, because the future home concept tickles our imagination, architects and engineers have been working hard to develop different systems to make houses ‘smarter’. In the paragraphs below we will outline some of the technology for e-homes that is either in development or already on the market. Stay connected with your apartment with facilities like switching on the air conditioning on the go and remotely accessing other facilities in the house. Hi-speed wireless Internet is available in all areas of the complex. E-letter boxes will intimate you instantly about new mail through the intelligent network. You shall be safe in your e-home, there is a digital networked security force working 24×7 and these homes are equipped with piped vacuum cleaning, so no need to carry heavy machines. Your e-home, with comprehensive home automation, can make life much simpler.

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Video camera at entrance identifies visitors using facial recognition software. The facial recognition software will not only identify friends, but strangers as well. And the software in your futuristic home will run the strangers face against a database of criminals.

Remote monitoring technology is already here, your home will soon be connected with your PDA or other handheld device and you’ll be able to manually override your smart home’s systems on the fly. Unexpected guests arriving, well, start that air conditioning early or open the door when the video facial recognition software detects their presents…

Conservation of energy and efficient use of resources is another vertical which is increasingly gaining importance, in these eco-driven times. Such homes will run off solar panels, wind turbines or both. Backup batteries may be used or an electrolyser, compressed hydrogen and a fuel cell may also be used as backup power. Extra hydrogen and electricity will be produced and stored so you can fuel up and recharge your hydrogen fuel cell plug-in hybrid electric car, which is the future car you’ll most likely be driving.

Toilets will not only be heated, void of toilet paper, it will also have a pleasing cleansing of the behind! More so, it also analyse stool samples for medical problems or urine samples for teenage drug use or pregnancy issues. Smart showers will not only be able to recycle water, but will be able to store individual profiles for each member of the family according to preferences and patterns of usage. One member may take long baths while another short showers.

Automated soap and shampoo dispensing for male or female will be programmed in. Water temperature and pressure settings can also be individualized.

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Get ready to live a life around smart appliances – ovens, microwaves and refrigerators will be combined and automated so remote cooking will be a possibility so meals are prepared for one’s arrival. And if cooking is a task, these refrigerators can also download recipes based upon what it is stocked with and what is in your pantry. The good old fridge does more it will take inventory of all food supplies in the home and alert you when you’re running out.

Companies like Microsoft and Google are now working on applications that tie into the smart grid for individual home so that you will be able to visually see and track which appliances use the most electricity, where heating and cooling is escaping in more energy with your solar panels or wind turbines.

In the e-home there will be a vast neutral networking system connecting all appliances, TVs, PCs, video, security and remote handheld or Bluetooth-type devices. There will also be other green systems in place such as saving, purifying and reusing wash water and bath water. Plants and people may receive pure or mineralised drinking water. The concept of e-homes also acquires relevance because contrary to the picture it may paint on a superficial level, it is all about utilising technology to conserve precious natural resources.

It is in the e-home that you can confidently expect to find rainwater harvesting schemes or an experiment that utilise solar energy to fuel all electrical requirements. An e-home is also committed to a greener planet in terms of the construction material used such as fly ash.

If you think this e-home concept is pie in the sky or science fiction, then think again. Most of the systems outlined here are either in development or already out on the market. Realty majors like Designarch in Delhi-NCR and Mantri Developers in Bangalore are making the lives of their potential buyers a lot easier so that they can relax in their own version of tomorrow…today. Life can be much easier, when your home takes care of you. Imagine switching on the AC or heating up the water for the shower on the way home from your office. With the power of an e-home, your home is at your finger tips. Never give another thought to security…it’s been taken care of at e-homes of these realty players.

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