Smart home technologies in everyday life: do they address key energy challenges in households?

Abstract

Smart home technologies (SHTs) enable new ways of using and managing energy in the domestic sphere. This paper interrogates their contribution to the ambitious carbon emissions reduction efforts required under the 1.5°C mitigation pathway set by the Paris Agreement and their suitability for energy poverty alleviation goals. In contrast to aspirational claims for a 'smart utopia' of greener, less energy intensive, and more comfortable homes currently present in market and policy discourses, we argue that SHTs may reinforce unsustainable energy consumption patterns in the residential sector, are not easily accessible by vulnerable consumers, and do little to help the 'energy poor' secure adequate and affordable access to energy at home