By Lee Goldberg

The new wave of home automation products focused on energy management that appeared at this year’s Consumer Electronics show signal several important technology trends that will have much more impact on our lives in the long run than the 3D TVs and the Tablet Computer Wars that dominated the headlines. Originally focused on the luxury home market, most home automation companies are now scrambling to add energy management capabilities to their product lines. We can also expect to see a similar stampede among utilities and service providers as they compete to add energy management services to their respective voice, video, and Internet bundles.

By providing a single, simplified way to manage consumers’ lighting, heating & cooling systems, appliances, and perhaps even their rooftop solar systems, these “quadruple-play” services could be a lucrative revenue bump for the likes of Verizon and Comcast, as well as a means to reduce customer churn. The big question will be whether the utilities will want to work with them or try to keep the business for themselves.

Energy-oriented home automation show promise as tools to help consumers and commercial buildings cut their energy costs and carbon footprints, but there are several significant questions must be answered about interoperability (both with existing household systems and the Smart Grid). At the present time, manufacturers are split on whether to use wireless control systems based on ZigBee, Z-Wave, or one of several other technologies. There’s also no consensus about who will install and manage them.

While some part of the market will consist of custom-installed high-end systems and products for the DIY-er who buys components at a local retailer and sets up his/her own system, it’s likely that the only way to drive home energy management deep into the mainstream will be for this to be handled by a utility or service provider. Much like the way cable and telecomm companies routinely provide WiFi routers and DVRs to their customers that work seamlessly with their particular flavor of service, we can expect them (or your local electric utility) to outfit your home with a gateway that allows you to schedule the energy consumption within your home. It will most likely also allow you to set rules on how your heater, AC, hot water heater, and other energy-intensive appliances behave, according to pricing information and peak load management messages sent by your electricity supplier.

The mass roll-out of energy management systems has already begun in some parts of the country with companies like Silver Spring Networks, Tendril, and Trilliant already working with utilities on several pilot projects such as the one in Oklahoma City, recently reported on by Earth2Tech. Likewise broadband carriers have been busy formulating their own plans for quadruple-play conquest - See GigaOm’s excellent November ’09 story or a taste of what’s going on.

It will take a while before the standards, interoperability, and jurisdictional issues are worked out and the proper deals are cut but once they are, we can expect home energy management services to find widespread acceptance with both consumers and commercial customers. This will represent a large opportunity for electronics manufacturers from the chip to the system level as the U.S., and much of the rest of the world, begin to tie into the Smart Grid.

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