Decarbonising Household Energy Use: The Smart Meter Revolution and Beyond

Smart features potentially make homes more sustainable and liveable. For example, smart appliances can interact with energy management systems to optimise performance and financial efficiency. However, smart homes can have unintended consequences, with technologies working, or users engaging with them in unexpected ways. This chapter explores the role of smart homes in a transition to a low energy and low carbon future. We discuss what smart homes are and some potential benefits. A word of caution is included as there are still unresolved challenges with smart homes to be addressed. If smart homes are to realise their potential we need to develop new policies and standards, including for consumer protection and social equity.